Tigers News: Trey Sweeney's first HR, pitching staff's ridiculous run, Riley Greene

The Tigers' young guns are in the majors to stay — through the rest of the season, at least. Detroit promoting Jace Jung and Trey Sweeney, while also giving Spencer Torkelson a second chance, was sort of a no-brainer. The Tigers aren't technically out of the playoffs yet, but they're nine games back of the Twins with just over 30 games left in the season. Their 0.8% chance of making it isn't zero, but with how well the rest of the AL Central is doing, it might as well be.

So Jung, Sweeney, and Torkelson get the chance to show what they can do when the stakes are low and fight for roster spots next season. All three have already made their presence known in different ways, but Sweeney put a feather in the cap of his first week with his first major league homer on Wednesday against the Cubs to get the scoring started for Detroit.

He smashed a hanging curveball on a 2-1 count and lifted it 414 feet to center field, just out of the reach of a leaping Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Tigers news: Trey Sweeney's first MLB homer, pitching staff success despite deficit, Riley Greene's great night

Riley Greene also had a great night on Wednesday, his best since he missed two weeks and some change with leg issues. After going hitless with five strikeouts through his first two games back, he followed Sweeney in the bottom of the second against the Cubs to crank an even longer two-run homer to center, scoring Parker Meadows and making the score 4-0.

He was also responsible for the first of many insurance runs the Tigers tacked on in the ninth with an RBI single. Kerry Carpenter solidified the win for Detroit with a three-run homer to follow Greene.

The Cubs walked away with just two runs, with the Tigers bullpen continuing to come through and make up for the starter deficit. Since Jack Flaherty left at the trade deadline, the rotation has been down to two starters — Tarik Skubal and Keider Montero — but the Tigers have still won 10 of their last 16 and allowed just three or fewer runs in 13 of those games.

Don't get us wrong, the Tigers are very much still on the back foot and could be risking the health of their bullpen arms in the long-term, but for now, their relievers are coming through in a massive way when the team needs desperately needs them to succeed.