It has been an awfully long time since Casey Mize has played a game in Comerica Park, and it was apparent this afternoon he was feeling the weight of his past performances as he wanted to come out and dazzle in front of a hometown crowd.
The Rangers sent out Jon Gray, and it became evident through the early innings that this was not shaping up to be a hot-bat kind of day.
The Rangers went 1-2-3 in the top of the first, but the Tigers did the exact same thing in the bottom of the inning.
The bats were quiet to start the second, but in the bottom half Kerry Carpenter hit a hot triple to start things going. Javier Baez drew a two-out walk, but even with two men on and one only 90 feet away, the Tigers were not able to bring Carpenter home.
Leody Tavares got the Rangers’ first hit of the day with a two-out single in the top of the third, but they left him stranded. In the bottom of the inning Riley Greene got a one-out walk. Zach McKinstry got a two-out single, but an error from Evan Carter allowed Green to score and McKinstry to advance to third.
At the inning break we got to hear a fun story about Carlos Pena changing his pants whenever he struck out, and that was… delightful, genuinely. He’s been fun in the booth this series.
The fourth inning went three-up three-down for the fourth.
John Smith singled to start the fifth, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. An Eziquiel Duran single scored Smith to tie the game. Andrew Knizer got a one-out single, a Leody Taveras force out eliminated Knizer, but advanced Duran to third. Marcus Semien then singled to score Duran and give the Rangers the lead. The Tigers didn’t do much to bolster their score in the bottom of the inning, going down in order.
Side note, we got a fun little booth chat with Todd Jones who told Jason about his time in Colorado being so brutal that a fan once asked him, “hey, are you sure you’re right-handed?” which might be the single most hilarious and brutal heckle I’ve ever heard.
The Rangers’ bats fell quiet again in the top of the sixth, but the Tigers made efforts of their own. McKinstry drew a one-out walk, then a Kerry Carpenter double brought McKinstry home and tied up the game. The sixth inning was also the end of the day for Casey Mize, who ended things off with a final line of 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K on 95 pitches. It was a really positive outing from Mize overall, looking forward to seeing how he progresses this season.
Alex Lange came out of the dugout for the seventh and got a 1-2-3 inning. The Tigers were likewise hitless against Rangers’ reliever Jose Urena.
In the top of the eighth Andrew Chafin set the Rangers down in order. Onto the bottom half and things finally started to heat up for the Tigers. Spencer Torkelson got a one-out walk, the was eliminated by a force out from McKinstry, then Matt Vierling came into pinch hit for Kerry Carpenter and hit a single. Gio Urshela then came in and singled to score McKinstry. A wild pitch then allowed Vierling to score, and the Tigers were up 4-2.
After one out in the top of the ninth, Chafin’s work was done and the game was turned over to Jason Foley to get the final two outs. Wyatt Langford singled, then John Smith walked. Foley got the next out, and had to face a real menace in a pinch-hitting Adolis Garcia. A pop out to Parker Meadows ended the game. Phew.
Final: Tigers 4, Rangers 2