CHICAGO — For the second time in six days, Casey Mize kept the Tigers in a pitching duel against a veteran ace. For his first time in six weeks, he paid for home runs in a defeat.
The blinking lights at Guaranteed Rate Field couldn’t hide the look of frustration on Mize’s face as Yasmani Grandal sent the right-hander’s elevated two-seamer a Statcast-projected 457 feet to right-center field for an insurance run in the seventh inning. It was the third White Sox home run off Mize in a 4-1 Detroit loss.
Aside from the three solo homers, Mize allowed just two other hits, both singles. He not only turned in his second straight walkless outing, extending his streak to 15 innings, he reached just two three-ball counts, both to Yermín Mercedes. It was a quality outing on a night when Mize didn’t have his best stuff, and it gave the Tigers a chance, much like he did against Gerrit Cole last weekend at Comerica Park.
Mize had allowed just two home runs over his previous six starts, but matched that total within his first seven hitters on a warm Thursday evening in Chicago. He threw a sharp splitter to Yoán Moncada, who chased it down and out of the strike zone to golf an opposite-field shot to left with two outs in the opening inning.
By contrast, Jake Lamb and Grandal connected with fastballs left over the plate. Lamb pulled a four-seamer 412 feet to right field in the second inning, again after Mize had retired the first two batters. Grandal’s tape-measure drive completed the damage.