CLEVELAND (Interstat) — Framber Valdez pitched seven scoreless innings and Riley Greene homered twice and drove in four runs as the Detroit Tigers defeated the Cleveland Guardians 6-0 on Saturday at Progressive Field.

Greene opened the scoring with a solo home run to center field in the first inning and later added an RBI single, a second homer and a run-scoring double as the Tigers snapped a two-game skid and improved to 65-77. The Guardians fell to 72-71.

Valdez, who entered with a 9-10 record, scattered three hits over seven innings, walked one, hit one batter and struck out three. He faced trouble only in the second inning when David Fry and Angel Genao strung together two-out singles, but Valdez escaped when Brayan Rocchio grounded out to shortstop.

The Tigers gave Valdez all the support he needed in the top of the first when Greene turned on a pitch from Cleveland starter Parker Messick and drove it over the fence for his 17th home run of the season. Detroit made it 2-0 in the third inning. Gleyber Torres singled and Hao-Yu Lee walked before Greene came through with a line-drive single to center field that scored Torres. Lee was thrown out at third base trying to advance on the play, but the Tigers held the lead.

Messick worked six innings and struck out 12 but took the loss despite another strong outing. He allowed seven hits and three earned runs. The lefthander fanned at least one batter in every inning he pitched, including a stretch of four consecutive strikeouts across the fifth and sixth innings. He struck out the side in the fifth inning, getting Javier Báez, Torres and Hao-Yu Lee swinging.

Cleveland wasted scoring chances in the early innings. After Angel Martínez singled in the first with one out, José Ramírez lined out to right field and Jo Adell struck out swinging. In the second, the Guardians put runners on first and second with no outs and advanced them on a sacrifice bunt from Petey Halpin. Austin Hedges then flied out to right and Rocchio grounded out to end the inning.

Valdez retired eight straight batters from the second into the fifth before Halpin bunted back to the pitcher. Austin Hedges walked with one out in the fifth, but Rocchio grounded into an inning-ending double play. That was the last real threat Cleveland mounted against Valdez. He set down the Guardians in order in the sixth and worked around a hit by pitch to Adell in the seventh by inducing a force out and another double play.

Greene struck again with two outs in the sixth inning, driving Messick’s pitch over the fence in left-center for his second homer of the game and his 18th of the season. The solo shot gave Detroit a 3-0 lead and extended Greene’s strong series. He had two hits in the series opener Friday and has been Detroit’s most consistent bat this season.

The Tigers broke the game open in the seventh against Cleveland reliever Matt Festa. Torres led off with a single and Hao-Yu Lee walked to put two runners on. Greene doubled on a sharp fly ball to center field, scoring Torres and moving Lee to third. Dillon Dingler followed with a sacrifice fly to left field that brought home Lee and gave Detroit a 5-0 lead. Ben Malgeri then singled to center to score Greene and cap the three-run rally.

Festa allowed three earned runs on three hits in his lone inning of relief. Austin Peterson, another Guardians reliever, tossed two scoreless innings and gave up one hit while striking out three, but Cleveland could not close the gap.

Beau Brieske took over for Valdez in the eighth inning and retired the side in order. Kyle Finnegan worked the ninth and also set down the Guardians in order, sealing Detroit’s shutout. The Tigers pitching staff combined to keep Cleveland off the scoreboard despite the Guardians collecting three hits. Cleveland grounded into two double plays on the afternoon.

Malgeri went 3 for 5 with an RBI and played a key role at the bottom of the lineup. John Peck added two hits and a walk from the shortstop position. Torres scored twice and reached base three times. Detroit’s 11-hit attack marked one of its better offensive outputs in recent weeks. The Tigers had lost 6-7 and 3-4 in two games Friday and scored just one combined run in their two previous losses at Minnesota.

The Guardians’ best chance to score against Valdez came in the second inning when consecutive singles gave them two runners with no outs. But Valdez induced a sacrifice bunt, a fly ball and a groundout, and Cleveland never seriously threatened again. Adell, serving as Cleveland’s designated hitter, went 0 for 2 with two strikeouts and was hit by a pitch in the seventh.

The game was played in 2 hours, 24 minutes in front of a crowd of 30,862 at Progressive Field. Detroit’s win gave the Tigers a split of the first two games of the four-game series. The teams will face each other again Sunday in the series finale in Cleveland. Detroit will return home for a six-game homestand next week against Minnesota and Colorado. Cleveland will visit Baltimore after the series ends.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Cleveland Guardians 5, Detroit Tigers 3. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Cleveland with a 54.60 percent probability to win. Cleveland had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The total score of 6 went under the over/under line of 7.5.