Game two for the Tigers against the Angels as Detroit celebrates Fourth Wing night at the park. I will withhold my opinion on the book, but I will say I hope it does not match the quality of play for tonight. The Tigers were leaning on Casey Mize to get the job done, who has been good since his return from the IL, and the Angels had one of their best pitchers on the mound in Jose Soriano.
Mize initially had some trouble with some full counts. He got an assist from Dillon Dingler with a called ball
four that was reversed to a third strike, but then Mike Trout walked. A double play off the bat of Vaughn Grissom ended the inning with no harm done. The Tigers came out swinging with back-to-back singles by Colt Keith and Kevin McGonigle. A Dingler single brought Keith home and put McGonigle on third. Dingler was tagged out at second trying to push his single into a double. Two more outs followed, but the Tigers had scored first.
Jorge Soler started the second inning with a single, but was eliminated in a force out off the bat of Wade Meckler. Meckler then stole second, but two outs followed, leaving him stranded. In the home half, Spencer Torkelson got things underway with a leadoff home run (perhaps to make up for the contested foul he hit that missed being a grand slam last night). Three outs followed in a row, but the Tigers were extending their lead, and doing it against a strong pitcher, which all bodes well.
Donovan Walton started a weird third inning with a single. Two outs followed, and then in Mike Trout’s at bat we saw a series of misadventures. First, Trout seemed to believe the home plate umpire miscalled a strike, but he requested the review too late, this led to some high tension. Then it came down to another ABS review call, this one from Dingler, that resulted in Trout being out, and there being additional words between the umpire, Trout, and manager Kurt Suzuki. No one got thrown out though. Keith started the home half with another single, but he was eliminated in a double play off the bat of McGonigle. A third out promptly ended the inning.
By the fourth, Mize was in his groove, getting the side out in order. In between innings, Mize came off the field and spoke to the assistant athletic trainer, both heading immediately into the clubhouse. Not ideal. With two outs in the home half, Spencer Torkelson hit a ground-rule double. Wenceel Perez walked.
Mize’s day was, indeed done. He went 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K on 58 pitches. Really not good. Hopefully it’s just discomfort and not anything more serious, because the Tigers really can’t afford to lose another starter, especially not so soon after he came back. Drew Anderson came on to pitch. He did manage to get the side out in order, which was a positive. In the bottom of the inning McGonigle got a two-out walk. A ball took a big hop in front of O’Hoppe, allowing McGonigle to advance to second. The ball was ruled a wild pitch, but really it just had a mind of its own. Riley Greene singled, bringing McGonigle home. Zach McKinstry walked, but he wouldn’t get a chance to score as the final out of the inning wrapped things up and the Tigers pushed their lead to 3-0. That was likely also the end of the day for Soriano who had gone to 105 pitches after a 35-pitch inning.
With one out in the inning, Drew Anderson had a rare pitcher W with ABS as he challenged a called ball and got it overturned for a third strike. The Angels went down in order. Brent Suter was the new pitcher for LA. Meanwhile, we got word that the official call on Mize was right groin tightness, the same issue that previously put him on the IL. No bueno. The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.
The Tigers went three-up, three-down in the top of the seventh, though Drew Anderson briefly forgot how many batters he’d faced. In the home half, McGonigle continues to be one of the most reliable guys on the team with a one-out single. Dingler doubled to push him to third. A passed ball by O’Hoppe was all the Tigers needed to get McGongile home and tack one on to their score. Two outs followed, but the Tigers were now up 4-0.
Kyle Finnegan was the new Tigers pitcher for the eighth. Finnegan got the side out in order. Torkelson got a leadoff double in the home half. The Tigers went three in a row after that, though.
Kenley Jansen was in for the ninth. With two outs, Jansen was looking uncomfortable and had been looking a little off in his last pitches. He was done for the game after walking Mike Trout. Losing two pitchers in one game feels very on point for this season. Did someone make a genie wish for a winning game but not think about the caveats? Brenan Hanifee came out of the bullpen after roughly one warmup pitch to hopefully get the final out of the game. Soler walked to put two on, but they did clinch the win and the shutout with a final out. But at what cost… at what cost?
