Phillies 8, Tigers 1: A career-high, a triple play and a butt-kicking

Casey Mize bounced back with his best stuff after being shelled and the offense turned back into a pumpkin.

Monday’s game was full of rarities.

Casey Mize did something no Tiger ever had. Nick — name shortened from “Nicholas,” as he was known in his Tigers’ day — Castellanos played at Comerica Park in front of fans for the first time since 2019. And the Phillies did something that hasn’t been done in the MLB since — wait for it — July 11, 1929.

But first, the score: The Philadelphia Phillies (52-26) used four first inning runs in four batters to defeat the Tigers 8-1, dropping Detroit to 36-42.

An already lopsided matchup, the Phillies took their top-5 offense against Casey Mize, who has had back-to-back serviceable starts, but is still sporting an ERA over 4. On the other side, Aaron Nola — one of the NL’s most reliable starters — would stare down an opposing lineup that has scored under four runs per game in their last eight contests despite two instances of double-digit output.

So the Phillies sent their first five men — Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm and Castellanos — to plate and left with four runs and zero outs, folks would be forgiven for changing the channel. Harper hit a 2-run double and Bohm a 2-run home run to put the visitors on the board.

But anybody who spent their night away from the Tigers missed a bounce-back from Mize, the likes of which are consistent with his recent trends: he got swings and misses. Fifty-three swings resulted in 19 whiffs — a 35.8% K rate — with six fastballs, six sliders, five splitters and two sinkers. Of his 101 pitches, 66 were for strikes.

The result was a final stat line that has never happened in the 100+ year history of Detroit Tigers baseball: 9+ hits, 10+ strikeouts and zero walks. The ten punch outs are a career high, beating his previous best of seven handedly. The former first overall pick ended his night after 4.1 innings with four runs allowed, three of which were earned.

The unearned run? It came Schwarber, who led the game off with a routine ground ball to SS Zach McKinstry, who booted the ball, resulting in an error. It’s worth wondering how Mize’s night could have gone otherwise considering the elite whiff rates he was inducing.

But it wasn’t the last time McKinstry was the negative center of attention. In the bottom of the third inning, he stood on third with Carson Kelly, who had just singled, on first with nobody out.

Matt Vierling hit a soft line drive back to Nola, who snared it. Kelly was caught frozen off first, so he was easily doubled off.

But McKinstry was inexplicably barreling toward home. He appears to have seen that the ball was caught and that his teammate was thrown out, but he was in a dead sprint. McKinstry was thrown out at third, completing the first triple play of the season in the MLB.

And the 1-3-5 scoring of it marked the first time since July 1929 when the Boston Red Sox were tripled off by none other than the Detroit Tigers.

McKinstry partially made up for the pair of game-altering goofs by ripping two hits, including a double from which he scored via a Carson Kelly single.

That exchange accounted for the team’s only run. McKinstry and Kelly each had two hits, and Riley Greene and Mark Canha each had one. The paltry output marks the seventh time the team has scored one run or fewer in the last 10 games.

Tyler Holton relieved Mize in the fifth inning and did not have his best stuff. He walked two batters and allowed two hits, one of which was a 3-run home run by Bryce Harper, bumping the score to 7-1.

Beau Brieske took the mound next and continued to throw well. He struck out all four batters he faced, marking his fourth-straight scoreless appearance which spans 7.1 innings with one hits, zero walks and eight strikeouts.

Mason Englert allowed one run in one inning and Andrew Chafin escaped a one-out, based-loaded jam to chuck a scoreless ninth.

Scoring isn’t going to get easier on Tuesday when the Tigers try to even the series at a run apiece; Phillies hurler Ranger Suarez, a leading NL Cy Young candidate with a 1.75 ERA, will take the mound opposite fellow award-race paceman Tarik Skubal, who is coming off his worst outing of the season against Houston. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m.

Box Score