Casey Mize made a stellar return from the injured list last weekend. The Detroit Tigers need him to retain that form on Thursday as they try to prevent the visiting Cleveland Guardians from completing a four-game sweep.
Cleveland, which has won five in a row and eight of its past nine games, took the series opener 8-2 on Monday. The Guardians won one-run games the past two nights, 4-3 on Tuesday, then 3-2 on Wednesday when Angel Martinez tripled to bring in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning.
Detroit has lost five straight and 13 of its past 15 games. The offense has been the main culprit, producing just 20 runs over the past nine games.
Mize (2-2, 2.43 ERA) was sharp on Saturday as he came back from a three-week absence caused by a right adductor strain. The right-hander tossed six shutout innings against the Toronto Blue Jays, allowing two hits and no walks while striking out four.
Unfortunately for Mize, he wound up with a no-decision in a game the Tigers lost 2-1 in 10 innings.
“I thought he pitched tremendously, coming off the injured list, getting right back into the competitive game,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “I thought he held his stuff, I thought he had great tempo, I thought his stuff was good, he got some swing and miss, got some soft contact, everything you would want out of a normal start.”
The Tigers are still dealing with injuries to numerous staff members, including ace Tarik Skubal. Mize’s outing gave them a comforting feeling.
“It’s huge to have him back,” catcher Jake Rogers said. “He’s a big presence on this staff and a really good right-handed arm for us. So, yeah, really big.”
Mize produced a modest strikeout total, but he attributed that to the opponent.
“They don’t strike out a lot, they don’t walk a lot, they’re going to put the ball in play,” he said. “So just knowing that, there’s no need for long counts to try to get 10 strikeouts today. And I don’t think you’re going to walk anybody, honestly, just because of their approaches top to bottom. So I think it just kind of played out that way.
“We tried to get into the zone early just to play into their game plan, hopefully in our favor, and fortunately it worked out.”
Mize is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA in four career outings against the Guardians.
Left-hander Joey Cantillo (3-1, 3.40 ERA) will be Mize’s mound opponent. Cantillo had his best outing of the season on May 11 when he tossed six scoreless innings against the Los Angeles Angels. In his latest start, against the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, Cantillo gave up four runs and four hits in five innings. He walked four and struck out four in a no-decision.
Cincinnati scored three runs in the fifth and went on to win 7-4.
“It just felt like Hedgie (catcher Austin Hedges) was reading really well when they were sitting soft and Joey was executing,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “He earned the right to get through that inning and obviously gave us a chance to win.”
Cantillo has permitted one run in six innings during two career appearances (one start) against the Tigers.
The Guardians keep finding ways to win, as evidenced by the Wednesday game. Two hits, a sacrifice bunt and a groundout plated the tying run in the ninth inning, and Martinez and Jose Ramirez came up with RBI extra-base hits in the 10th.
Despite giving up an RBI hit to open the bottom of the 10th, Cam Smith held on for his 16th save.
“No matter how long we’ve been down, no matter how long we haven’t done anything, we can flip a switch at any point and put up some runs,” Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee said, according to MLB.com. “That’s the ‘down but never out’ aspect of it.”
–Field Level Media
