Casey Mize wasn’t at his sharpest, but he got great defensive work behind him to put together a quality start. Meanwhile, Riley Greene did it all in this one, showing off power and great defense to lead the Tigers to a 6-3 win, and a series victory over the Texas Rangers on Sunday.
Kumar Rocker took the mound for the Rangers, finally settling in as a pretty solid depth starter at age 26. Kevin McGonigle greeted him with a battle that ended in a single to center field. Dillon Dingler followed with a grounder
into a double play. A high cutter drew a whiff from Kerry Carpenter to end the top of the first.
Casey Mize, in the midst of a breakout campaign, was on the bump today for the Tigers, with Jake Rogers behind the dish. Joc Pederson greeted him with an opposite field single. Mize responded by dusting Jake Burger on three straight fastballs. Mize fell behind against Brandon Nimmo, but back-to-back well located fourseamers locked Nimmo up as he hunted something softer. Ezequiel Duran popped out to send us to the second inning.
Rocker has good stuff, but he tends to nibble when ahead, leading him to a lot of inefficiency like many young starters. He got ahead of Riley Greene, but the Tigers left fielder worked back to a full count and then flared a leadoff single into left field. Spencer Torkelson bit on a good 2-2 cutter away to strike out. Another lengthy at-bat ended in a deep drive from Colt Keith, but Evan Carter had no trouble hauling it in near the warning track in center field. Rocker was already closing in on 40 pitches five outs into his outing, but he coaxed a weak fly ball to center from Zach McKinstry.
Mize punched out Evan Carter with a high fourseamer to open the bottom of the second. That was his third strikeout already on the outing. Elias Diaz smoked a line drive but McGonigle dove gloveside and snared it with a great play. Josh Smith fouled off several well located two-strike splitters, and then battled Mize through a 10-pitch AB that ended with him smashing a fastball to the wall in right center field and racing to third for a two-out triple. Rookie infielder Cam Cauley, a right-handed hitter, was up next and Mize fell behind 3-1. He stepped off to compose himself, but fired a slider that missed up to walk him. After that slider that didn’t slide, Chris Fetter came out to hit the reset button on his right-hander. It worked, as Nicky Lopez grounded out on a splitter to end the inning.
Rogers and Outman flew out to start the third. Outman’s was a towering drive that floated out deep to center field, but it was still a comfortable play for Carter. McGonigle fouled off a slew of pitches, but then got a sinker right down the middle and grounded out sharply to second.
Mize got Pederson on a grounder to McGonigle to start the bottom half. However, a first pitch slider to Jake Burger stayed up and got crushed to left for a solo shot. 1-0 Rangers. Nimmo got a splitter away that didn’t quite fade off the plate, and smoked an opposite field line drive but Riley Greene laid it all out and made a brilliant diving catch in the left center field gap for the second out. The Tigers were flashing the leather early on, while Mize was still struggling to locate the slider and splitter consistently. Instead, he spotted a fourseam at the bottom of the zone for strike three on Duran to end the inning.
This might be the defensive play of the year for the Tigers so far, although the consequences were minor. What a catch though.
The Tigers were still struggling with Rocker’s cutter, and Dingler popped out to open the fourth. Kerry Carpenter finally broke through, lining a cutter to right for a single. Riley Greene worked a 2-1 count and then killed a fastball for his 13th shot of the year. It was a majestic no-doubter to right field for the All-Star outfielder, who was doing it all in this one and now has nine homers since the beginning of June. 2-1 Tigers.
Torkelson struck out. Keith fouled off a couple of cutters and then a fourseamer before working the count full. Rocker walked him on his 75th pitch of the day. McKinstry hit one hard, but right to Burger at first.
The Rangers went into swing mode against Mize in the bottom of the fourth. As a result he needed just six pitches to pop up Carter, get Diaz on a grounder to McGonigle, and then Smith grounded one to Torkelson, who fed Mize the toss to close out the fourth inning. By contrast, Mize only needed 56 pitches to this point.
Rogers struck out to open the fifth, but James Outman beat out an infield single on a grounder to first. That was it for Rocker as Skip Schumaker turned to lefty Robbie Ahlstrom against McGonigle. Outman was dancing off first and Ahlstrom fell behind the Tigers’ rookie 2-0. A solid single through the right side of the infield followed, with Outman cruising from first to third on the knock. Dingler got a 2-2 changeup away and Dingler ripped an RBI single to center field. 3-1 Tigers, and McGonigle easily went first to third as well, and so they had runners at the corners with one out and a run in for Kerry Carpenter. You’ll note Jahmai Jones’ services were not called upon once again, and Carpenter stayed in against the lefty.
Ahlstrom stuffed a pair of fastballs inside to start things off against Carpenter. The first was called a ball but challenged into a strike. The second drew a swing and was well inside, but Diaz interfered with Carpenter on the play and so he took first, and the bases were juiced as Riley Greene stepped into the box. The first pitch of the at-bat was a breaking ball that went right through Diaz’s wickets for a wild pitch to score McGonigle. In a full count, Greene launched a slider high to the opposite field and just off the wall in the left field corner. Smith couldn’t handle it and the ball bounced all the way over toward center field where Carter had to corral it to hold Greene to a two-run triple. 6-1 Tigers.
Spencer Torkelson followed by drawing a walk. AJ Hinch, with Pink Floyd’s On the Turning Away playing mournfully for Jahmai Jones in the background, pinch-hit Hao-Yu Lee in for Colt Keith. That just prompted the Rangers to go back to the pen for hard-throwing right-hander Gavin Collyer. He got Lee to pop out and blew McKinstry away with 99 mph to finally end the inning, but the damage was done.
McGonigle moved over to third base, with McKinstry to shortstop, and Lee in as the second baseman for the bottom of the fifth. Casey Mize had a long rest during the top half, but he picked up where he left off, getting Cauley to ground out first pitch. Nicky Lopez lined a single to left field, and so the lineup turned over to the top for the third time. Mize bounced a splitter to walk Joc Pederson, and suddenly things got a little bit tense again. Mize unclenched the situation by popping up Burger on a high fastball for the second out. He got ahead of Nimmo with two high fastballs that were fouled off, but the next one was a little liner just over McKinstry and off the tip of his glove for an RBI single. 6-2 Tigers. Duran lifted a fly ball to left to end the inning.
Collyer locked up Rogers for the first out of the sixth. Outman was victimized by a good fastball on the outer edge for a whiff. McGonigle fouled off a host of good two-strike pitches and ultimately drew a two out walk to reach base for the third time in this one, but Dingler popped out to end the frame.
Mize quickly got Carter and Diaz to ground out. His 85th pitch drew a lazy fly ball to left to send us to the seventh inning.
Right-hander Cole Winn took over from Collyer to face Carpenter, Greene, and Torkelson in the seventh. This was a very favorable matchup, but you never know. Carpenter whiffed on a splitter and struck out, while Greene flew out. Torkelson lined a single to get Lee to the plate, but he popped out down the third base line.
Matt Vierling took over in right field from Carpenter for defensive purposes, while Mize came back out for the seventh but on a short leash. Cauley lifted a drive to right field, finding Vierling immediately for the first out. Mize’s 94th pitch got Nicky Lopez on a little fly out to left, and that ended Mize’s day as the lineup turned over again. Left-hander Drew Sommers got the call to take on the top of the Rangers’ order. The lefty dispatched Pederson with a sinker that tied him into knots to end the inning.
Winn took care of the last third of the Tigers order with no difficulty, and so we were onto the bottom of the eighth with the Tigers defending a 6-2 lead. With Keider Montero unavailable, Will Vest injured, and Kenley Jansen and Kyle Finnegan pretty iffy, how would Hinch try to get through the final six outs? As expected, the first answer was Drew Anderson with the right-handed Burger up to start the inning.
Anderson leaned into the fastball early on, with Burger grounding out to third and Nimmo flying out to Vierling for the second out. That left to Duran, who ambushed a slider that leaked back on the inner half rather than bending away and launched a solo shot over the center field wall. 6-3 Tigers. Anderson’s changeup and slider continue to be pretty mashable when left up in the zone, despite the copious whiffs he’s generating off the two pitches. Carter quickly grounded out on a changeup to send us to the ninth.
Right-hander Peyton Gray handled the ninth for the Rangers. He got a McGonigle pop up into shallow left field to start things off. We were hoping to get Greene back to the dish with a shot at the cycle with a double. Unfortunately, Dingler lifted a routine fly out to center. So, it was up to Vierling and he delivered, ripping a screaming drive up the left field gap for a two-out triple. And so, Greene had a shot at the cycle. The Tigers haven’t had a cycle hit for since Carlos Guillen in 2006. Unfortunately, Schumaker wasn’t interested in seeing Greene hit again in this one, and so they intentionally walked him. Boooooo. Yeah it’s a three-run game and not totally out of hand, but that was a bummer. Torkelson grounded into a force of Greene to end the half inning.
And so, it was Kenley Jansen time. He promptly popped up Diaz to Torkelson, staying at the top of the strike zone or higher. Smith also popped out to Torkelson, this time on a 1-2 slider. Alejandro Osuna pinch hit for Cauley, and he lifted a little pop fly to Vierling to end this one.
That was save 486 for Jansen’s career.
A 5-1 road trip feels pretty good after the Tigers’ first half struggles on the road. The 40-50 Tigers now come home for three against the Angels starting on Tuesday night. The six-game homestand will also see the Phillies come to town for three, and that will take us into the All-Star break.
