MINNEAPOLIS – Detroit Tigers pitcher Casey Mize gave up some early runs, had a great middle and a rough end, as the Minnesota Twins earned a 5-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Target Field and prevented a series sweep.
In the first inning, Byron Buxton hammered a full-count fastball over the left-field fence and the Twins added another run with a pair of hits in the second inning. But Mize found his groove in the middle of the game and shut down the Twins, while keeping his pitch count down. He cruised through the third, fourth and fifth innings, facing just nine batters.
He entered the sixth inning with just 55 pitches, which had the potential to be a huge advantage, in the big picture, for the Tigers. Because the Tigers are in the midst of a grueling stretch of games. They are playing 23 games in 24 days, including 13 in a row.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch is approaching this stretch of games trying to be strategic with his position players, giving them days off, especially this early in the season.
And anytime a pitcher can last deep into a game, it saves the bullpen over time.
So, having Mize with the potential to go deep in this game was a tremendous opportunity.
But that vanished when the Twins exploded on Mize in the sixth inning. Edouard Julien homered, Buxton doubled and Willi Castro, the former Tiger, had a swinging bunt. Castro, it should be noted, has now reached base in 15-straight games.
Suddenly, Hinch had to get his bullpen ready. Mize struck out Matt Wallner, then Ty France singled up the middle knocking in a run and Mize was done, as the Twins held a 4-1 lead. He gave up four earned runs, allowed seven hits, although two of them were homers. He had three strikeouts with no walks.
Despite the loss, the Tigers (9-6) still won the series, their fourth straight.
Another Tork Bomb
Spencer Torkelson’s hot streak continued on Sunday afternoon.
Torkelson crushed a homer in the top of the fourth, a blast that covered 396 feet and went into the upper deck. He has five homers in 15 games this season, including four in the last eight games.
It's not easy (right now) being Greene
Riley Greene is in a funk at the plate and showed his frustration on Sunday afternoon. In the third inning, the Tigers were trailing 2-0 and had a tremendous opportunity to cut into it. They put runners on the corners with two outs. But Greene struck out swinging and flicked off his helmet, yanked off his shin guard and ripped off his gloves, clearly upset with himself.
Greene went 1-for-12 in the New York Yankees series and went hitless in Minneapolis. He went 0-for-7 in the first two games and struck out in his first two plate appearances on Sunday.
In the fifth inning, Greene faced another great opportunity. The Tigers had runners on first and second with two outs and he crushed a change up to deep right field, a ...
