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After Another Great Start, Greene Credits Detroit's Dramatically Improved Defense

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

CBS DETROIT - In his third outing as a Detroit Tiger, starting pitcher Shane Greene allowed one earned run in seven innings. In each of his previous two starts, Greene turned in eight scoreless innings.

On a rotation that includes David Price, who could set a new contract benchmark in free agency after this season, Greene has the lowest ERA. The number is 0.39. At some point, it will bounce up to a more natural level, but in the meantime, Greene can accept that his success may seem sudden.

"Maybe a little bit of a Cinderella story," Greene said in the locker room Sunday after the Tigers defeated the Chicago White Sox, 9-1. "But I'm just trying to win."

Less than one year removed from his major league debut, Greene comes off as unfailingly humble, but he does not lack confidence.

Asked if his impressive string of starts has surprised him, Greene had a short answer: "No."

The Tigers, who acquired Greene from the New York Yankees, could hardly have expected Greene to look this settled this quickly. He turned in a 3.78 ERA in 15 appearances for the Yankees - encouraging, certainly, but not enough so to warrant anything more than cautious optimism.

So far, Greene has proved the optimists correct.

"He's been a little bit better than what we were expecting," Tigers pitching coach Jeff Jones said. "He threw well in spring training ... He's carried it into the season. He's very aggressive in the strike zone. He goes after every hitter. He doesn't mess around. He walked a couple guys today I think at the end because he got a little bit too quick for his delivery, but we've obviously liked what we've seen so far."

A defense that is vastly better than it was last season has greatly helped Greene and the other Tigers pitchers. Greene acknowledges this readily.

"They're telling me, 'Good job,' and I'm trying to tell them, 'No, good job to you,' like, 'You guys did it, not me,'" Greene said.

"You guys should be over here with all the microphones in front of the defense, not me," Greene insisted Sunday when a second wave of media, arriving from the postgame press conference of Tigers manager Brad Ausmus, converged on his locker.

The Tigers made major defensive upgrades in the offseason by bringing in outfielders Yoenis Cespedes and Anthony Gose, and they also got back from injury Jose Iglesias, the flashy young shortstop who is now paired with another great infielder in second baseman Ian Kinsler. Third baseman Nick Castellanos has worked hard to improve in the field and, by the accounts of Ausmus and several players, he has done so.

To describe how much better the defense is now than it was last season, Kinsler suggested a scale of one to 10.

"Last year we were probably – we were probably like a five and a half or a six or something, out of 10," Kinsler said Sunday. "We were kind of hovering around average, maybe a little bit better than average. And this year, we're probably like an eight, and there's room for great improvement and try to get to that 10 and help our pitchers. That's the key is to help the pitchers and make sure that they're staying in the game as long as possible."

The pitchers certainly appreciate those efforts.

"It's unbelievable," Tigers reliever Ian Krol said. "You can just go up there and just pitch. You don't have to worry about anything like that because you know your guys in the field are going to make plays for you. It's outstanding having that behind us.

"You can afford, sometimes, to make mistakes," Krol added. "You can afford that, and you know that they'll have your back in the field, so it's always reassuring."

Kinsler, in his 10th major league season, hinted the best is yet to come for the defense, including the already impressive Iglesias.

"There's always room for growth in this game," Kinsler said. "No one's ever complete. He's still learning a lot of different things. You see the final product, you see maybe the final play, but there's a lot of things that go into being in the right spot and making sure that you're reading the game the right way and positioning yourself right. There's a lot of other things that can help win a game when you're not hitting or whatever it may be. There's other ways to win games. You're always working on that."

This season, Iglesias and Kinsler are playing together for the first time, and the duo has not disappointed. Detroit logged four double plays Sunday.

"It's been a lot of fun," Kinsler said. "I think we're enjoying playing together, we're constantly talking, constantly communicating and trying to be in the right spot and making sure that we're helping the starting pitchers as much as we can."

Jones, like his pitchers, has no complaints.

"The defense has been tremendous," Jones said. "Honestly, I think it's been a huge plus for us."

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