PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers beat the New York Mets, 3-2, on Sunday at Clover Park in Port. St Lucie.

The Tigers are 9-7-1 in Grapefruit League play.

What happened

Riley Greene, who is fully healthy after recovering from Tommy John surgery on his non-throwing elbow, had been searching at the plate through his first 20 plate appearances of spring training. Something possibly clicked in his 21st trip to the plate.

Greene has been trying to elevate the ball.

It's a long-standing hole in his profile on offense.

"Trying to get the ball in the air is my goal," Greene said. "I'm (expletive) tired of hitting the ball on the ground. I'm trying to get the ball in the air with pure spin, and hit it hard."

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After a first-inning groundout, Greene pulled an up-and-in 94 mph fastball from right-handed reliever Austin Adams to the warning track in right field. He hit the ball with a 112.4 mph exit velocity with a 19-degree launch angle. Progress, but a few more inches of launch would have resulted in a home run.

That was Greene's 21st plate appearance in spring.

Greene pulled the ball again in the seventh inning — his 22nd plate appearance — for a double to right field against right-handed reliever Jorge López. He turned on a down-and-in 89 mph changeup, hitting the ball with an 87.5 mph exit velocity and 18-degree launch angle.

"He knows he's got to get the ball in the air, but you got to get a good pitch to hit," manager A.J. Hinch said. "I'm not stressing about it. Our hitting guys are trying to emphasize what pitches he can handle versus trying to hit everything."

In 2023, Greene — a left-handed hitter — hit 107 of his 266 balls in play to the right side of the field, which is his pull side, and of those 107 balls in play to the right side of the field, a whopping 59.8% of them were ground balls.

He logged a 48.9% ground-ball rate last season on balls in play to all parts of the field.

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Greene struggles to hit balls in the air, especially to right field.

"It has a lot to do with approach," Greene said. "I'm trying to think homer to center field because that's going to keep my hands on the right path and keep my lower body 50-50, where I'm not going to get it or I'm stuck. I'm just trying to think about that."

Starting off

Left-hander Brant Hurter, a top pitching prospect, completed three scoreless innings. Fellow left-hander Tarik Skubal, who was scheduled to start, completed a simulated game on the TigerTown backfields in Lakeland, Florida.

Hurter, 25, surrendered one run.

The wind blowing out to right field carried a fly ball from Mark Vientos over the wall for a solo home run in the second inning. Vientos made contact with a middle-up 91 mph sinker after falling behind 0-2 in the count.

The Mets took a 1-0 lead.

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Hurter fired scoreless innings in the first and third innings.

He worked efficiently, throwing 24 of 37 pitches for strikes and used 16 sinkers, 11 sliders and 10 changeups. His slider generated both of his whiffs, but his lone strikeout occurred when his down-and-away slider caught Ben Gamel, a left-handed hitter, looking for a called-third strike in the third inning.

Hurter spent most of his start working on his new changeup grip.

At the plate

The Tigers tied the game, 1-1, in the seventh inning.

Spencer Torkelson and Mark Canha grounded out after Greene's double, but Colt Keith salvaged the inning. He fell behind 0-2 in the count before hitting a third-pitch 94 mph sinker from right-handed reliever Jorge López to right field.

The single from Keith scored Bligh Madris, pinch-running for Greene, to put the Tigers on the scoreboard. The Tigers posted another two runs in the eighth inning.

Facing flamethrower Shintaro Fujinami, prospect Jace Jung — who entered the game as the backup second baseman, with Eddys Leonard as the backup to Buddy Kennedy at third base — smacked a first-pitch 97 mph fastball for an RBI single and a 2-1 lead.

An RBI double from Madris made it 3-1.

On the mound

Right-hander Wilmer Flores worked efficiently through two innings, throwing 12 of 17 pitches for strikes. He didn't record any strikeouts, but he didn't walk any batters.

Flores, a pitching prospect who is expected to begin the season in Triple-A Toledo's starting rotation and could eventually make his MLB debut as reliever for the Tigers, threw eight four-seam fastballs, six sliders and three curveballs.

His fastball averaged 98.2 mph, maxing at 99.4 mph.

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Right-hander Ty Madden, another pitching prospect, completed the seventh and eighth innings without allowing a run. Left-handed reliever Sean Guenther gave up a solo home run to Tomás Nido with two strikes and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Three stars

1. Hurter, 2. Flores, 3. Greene.

Next up

Monday (1:05 p.m.) vs. Houston Astros in West Palm Beach.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Riley Greene still working at plate in win over Mets