Detroit — Riley Greene essentially said to the Green Monster, fool me once. But you aren’t going to get me twice.
“Live and learn,” Greene said. “That’s what I said when we got back to the dugout.”
If you missed it, Greene made a five-star play to save a run in the first inning at Fenway Park on Monday morning. With a runner on first, Trevor Story lofted a ball toward the Green Monster with a 38-degree launch angle.
Story thought it was gone. Jack Flaherty, who served it up, thought it was gone. Tigers broadcaster Jason Benetti thought for sure it was at least off the top of the wall.
Greene might’ve been the only one in the park who thought he might have a shot at it.
“I tried to hold up as long as I could,” he said. “The wind was blowing, sometimes it was blowing in and sometimes it was blowing out. Whatever.”
He got back to the wall, timed his leap and snared the ball before it hit off the manual, old-school out-of-town scoreboard.
It was an incredible catch and a testament to the advantage of playing a long series in a unique yard like Fenway. Because on Saturday, he didn’t stay after a similarly lofted ball in the fifth inning and it ended being a double for Ceddanne Rafaela that led to the Red Sox only run that day.
“Live and learn,” Greene said. “I backed off that ball. Even if I wouldn’t have caught it, even if I didn’t think I had a chance, still try to get it because I knew Wenceel (Perez, center fielder) was backing me up. I don’t think I could’ve caught it, but if I stood in there, maybe I could’ve.”
Trusting the center fielder is backing you up, there’s nothing to lose by hanging in. It’s either gone or a double. Or, like on Monday, the spin on the ball can knock it down just short of the wall and you make the catch.
“This was the same thing,” Greene said. “Maybe I can catch it, but I was like, ‘Oh, (Matt) Vierling is going to be there backing me up, why not try to go.’”
Greene had a productive day at the plate, as well, Monday. He walked twice, singled and in the ninth hit a two-run single off Red Sox lefty closer Aroldis Chapman.
“I made up my mind I was going stick my face in there and if throws one up and in, I’m going to die,” Greene said, laughing. “But if he doesn’t, I’m going to be ready to hit.”
He barreled up a 94-mph fastball. The ball left his bat at 103 mph.
Here’s the amazing part. It was just the second time Greene faced Chapman and he’s now 2 for 2.
Brewers at Tigers
First pitch: 6:40 p.m. Wednesday, Comerica Park, Detroit
TV/radio: Detroit Sports Net/97.1 FM
Scouting report
RHP Chad Patrick (1-0, 0.95), Brewers: Another diamond-in-the-rough find by the Brewers. He spent two summers pitching for the Traverse City Pit Spitters in the Northwoods League and drafted out of Purdue Northwest. Six years later, he’s carving his niche in the Brewers’ rotation. Attacking mostly with three fastballs, he’s allowed two earned runs in 19 innings. Hitters are 3 for 25 against his 88-89 mph cutter. Right-handed hitters are 0 for 16 against it. He offsets the cutter with 94-mph four-seamers and sinkers and also throws a slurve.
RHP Casey Mize (1-1, 2.78), Tigers: He is coming off a beauty in Boston, where he allowed just three hits with seven strikeouts in 6.2 scoreless innings. He had all his weapons firing, but again, the splitter has been elite. It already has a plus-3 run value, holding hitters to a .138 average (4 for 29) with 13 strikeouts and a 35.7% whiff rate. His four-seam, splitter, hard slider combo has been wiping out lefties (.137 average, no extra base hits).
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers’ Riley Greene a quick study on nuances of Fenway’s Green Monster
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
