Casey Mize has won both of his August starts, though neither would be classified as a dominant outing.
The Detroit Tigers right-hander will aim for his third straight victory during the third contest of a four-game series against the Minnesota Twins on Saturday in Minneapolis.
Mize (11-4, 3.50 ERA) gave up three solo homers to the Twins but limited them to only one other hit in a six-inning start on Aug. 4, a 6-3 win.
In his most recent outing on Sunday, Mize gave up just two runs and three hits to the Los Angeles Angels but required 91 pitches to get through five innings.
His teammates staked him to a 7-0 lead in the 9-5 win.
“You just want to throw strike one and have some quick innings and get the guys back in there,” Mize said. “When we score early like that, it sets the tone for the game and makes it a lot easier for me, for sure.”
Mize only recorded one 1-2-3 inning and had three-ball counts against five batters, which elevated his overall pitch count.
“I wish I could’ve given us more length than I did. But it was an overall fine day,” Mize said.
He’s 3-4 with a 4.86 ERA in 10 career starts against Minnesota.
The Twins will counter with another right-hander, Zebby Matthews (3-4, 5.11 ERA).
Matthews’ most recent victory came against the Tigers on Aug. 5, when he held them to one run and five hits while striking out six in five innings. It was the first time he had ever faced Detroit.
He lost his last outing, though he didn’t pitch badly. He gave up three runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings against the New York Yankees in the 6-2 defeat on Monday. All the runs were a product of solo homers with two outs.
“That has been an issue throughout the year so far,” Matthews said. “Obviously, I need to finish the inning. I had the mistake pitches down to solo home runs. I was able to keep [the team] in the game. Clearly, I need to finish the innings a little better.”
Matthews tied his career high with nine strikeouts.
“I thought Zebby had an excellent start,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He got good results from his slider (Monday), threw some good changeups. He mixed his fastball and his sinker really well. If we were able to put some runs on the board, you would be thinking about his outing differently. He gave up some solo homers. Those normally would not be enough to beat you. [The Yankees] didn’t get much going off him.”
Detroit has won five of its past six games, including the first two contests of this series. The Tigers scored five runs in the first inning on Friday en route to a 7-0 victory.
Dillon Dingler drove in three runs and has six RBIs in his past four games.
The Tigers extended their American League Central lead to 7 1/2 games over second-place Cleveland.
The Twins have lost four of their past five games.
–Field Level Media
