Riley Greene and Miguel Cabrera flexed on the Mets

The Detroit Tigers took down a New York Mets squad 9-6 in Grapefruit League action on Tuesday. In the process, they put on a show of power long missing from the Tigers lineup. Of course, one member of that lineup, teenage outfielder Riley Greene, won’t be in Detroit for a while, but that hasn’t stopped him from leading the way in the early going.

Green had already made waves in his first game with the major league squad, walking twice, making a fine running catch, and launching his first home run of the season. On Tuesday, he was at it again against the Mets.

Greene is currently batting 1.000 with a 5.000 OPS. LOL. Sure it’s only five Spring Training plate appearances, but hey just shut up and enjoy for a minute, will ya?

Miggy go boom

In other home run news, Miguel Cabrera continues to look pretty good in the early going. The leg kick is back, and he certainly appears to be driving off that troublesome right leg much better than he did last year. The big fella has been productive so far and smoking the ball with his old authority. He put up his first homer of the year, a three-run shot to the opposite field in the fifth inning.

Just listen to this one first.

Say your prayers, kids. It’d be real nice to have the real Miguel Cabrera back in the lineup in some form.

In new Tiger dinger news, C.J. Cron followed Cabrera immediately with a solo shot, his first in a Tigers’ uniform.

Good, bad, and Franklin Perez on the pitching side

Spencer Turnbull started in this one, and looked very strong. He pumped mid-90’s fastballs past Mets hitters throughout his two perfect innings of work, and looked to have his slider going. He struck out the side in the first, and added one more in the second inning.

Reliever David McKay, he of the monster breaking ball, looked sharp as well. McKay punched a pair of Mets’ tickets in the third inning, while Kyle Funkhouser allowed just a hit in his inning of work, and collected the victory.

On the other hand, things did not go well at all for reliever Alex Wilson. Wilson took over in the sixth, and promptly allowed four earned runs. He collected just one out and allowed two home runs in the inning. Most painfully? One of them was a two-run shot launched by a fella named Tim Tebow which sent Mets’ fans into a frenzy. Embarrassing.

The biggest bright spot on the pitching side was simply seeing long-absent pitching prospect Franklin Perez take the bump in the ninth inning. Perez’s velocity was good, and he showed off the good curveball despite some command issues. He allowed two hits and a run, but that matters not at all. The only goal that matters right now is to stay healthy and build that arm.

Here’s a bit of footage friend of BYB, and co-host of the Podcastellanos, Jordan Hall shot of Perez warming up before his inning of work.

Notes

Infield prospect Isaac Paredes has battled a sore arm the past few days. Doesn’t appear serious, but it explains Kody Clemens’ inclusion in the lineup for a few games.

Niko Goodrum is dealing with soreness in his groin and will get a few days off as well. Jordy Mercer started at shortstop on Tuesday.