Tigers 6, Guardians 0: Greene Homers Twice, Valdez Goes Seven

Two Greene homers, and Cleveland never got past first

September 5, 2026 - Cleveland - Riley Greene hit two solo homers, finished 4-for-5, and drove in four runs Saturday. Framber Valdez threw seven innings and allowed three singles. The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Guardians 6-0 at Progressive Field.

Cleveland pushed two runners past first base all night. That was the whole home offense. After a Friday doubleheader sweep, the Guardians ran into a left-hander who stopped missing bats in the middle of the zone and a left fielder who had not homered in a month.

Greene, then Greene again

Greene cleared the wall in left-center against Parker Messick in the first. 1-0. He singled Gleyber Torres home in the third. 2-0. He went deep again in the sixth. 3-0.

Those were his first home runs since August 4 at Seattle and his second multi-homer game of the season. The 4-for-5 (two homers, a double, four RBI, three runs) was a season high in hits. He also struck out once, which is the only out on his card that did not hurt.

Torres went 2-for-5 and scored twice. Ben Malgeri was 3-for-5 with a double and the RBI single that scored Greene in the seventh. Dillon Dingler added a run-scoring groundout. Hao-Yu Lee walked twice and scored. Detroit piled three in the seventh against Matt Festa and made a 3-0 game look finished.

Tigers rookies Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark sat. The lineup still found six runs.

Valdez for seven, Messick's 12 punchouts in a loss

Valdez (9-10) matched his longest outing of the year: seven innings, three hits, no runs, one walk, three strikeouts, 94 pitches. Cleveland's hits were singles from Angel Genao, David Fry, and Angel Martínez. Valdez held the Guardians hitless after the second. Kyle Finnegan and Beau Brieske each threw a 1-2-3 inning behind him. Combined: three hits, one walk, one error, three left on.

Messick (11-9) struck out a career-high 12 over six innings. He fanned the side twice. He also left two Greene homers in the seats and took the loss. The All-Star rookie is 0-2 in three starts against Detroit this season. Twelve strikeouts and a 3-0 deficit is the kind of line that looks great in a vacuum and worse on a September scoreboard.

Friday's sweep, Saturday's zero

Cleveland swept Friday. Brayan Rocchio hit a grand slam and a walk-off homer in the 7-6 day game. Travis Bazzana singled Rocchio home in the 10th of the 4-3 nightcap. Saturday, the same club managed three singles and never put a runner in scoring position with a chance that felt real.

Chase DeLauter sat with a sprained right wrist. Stephen Vogt called it day-to-day. The Guardians remain in the third American League wild-card spot at 72-71. Detroit is 65-77 and won for the fifth time in 21 games since August 14. A 6-0 road shutout does not rewrite that stretch. It does stop a weekend from becoming a sweep the other way.

Jackson Jobe (1-2, 4.63) was set to face Gavin Williams (13-7, 3.81) in Sunday's finale.

AthX Engine put Greene at 17 hitting fantasy points, first among all Saturday hitters. Valdez scored 24 pitching FP, third on the pitcher board. Detroit's 15 team FP ranked third on the slate. Cleveland sat at -7, last among 30 clubs. Fantasy points measure what happened. Price is what someone will pay tomorrow.

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*Sources: ESPN recap, MLB Gameday box, Associated Press, AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*