Tigers 3, Royals 1: Casey Mize dominates, Spencer Torkelson mashes again

Casey Mize and Spencer Torkelson led the way yet again.

Another dominant outing from a rejuvenated Casey Mize led the way on Saturday. Spencer Torkelson landed the decisive blow yet again, crushing his seventh home run of the season, and the Tigers made it three straight over the Royals with a 3-1 victory to run their record to 13-8 on the young season.

The Tigers entered Saturday’s matchup with the Royals at Comerica Park looking to take their fifth series victory out of seven played this season. That would set them up to hunt the sweep on Sunday with Tarik Skubal getting the start. With Casey Mize on the mound, their chances seemed very good despite a quality starter on the other side in Seth Lugo.

Mize was good from the start, throwing hard and spotting his fastball, breaking balls, and splitter pretty well. We saw a little more 97 mph heat than we have since spring camp. The weather, and the fastballs, are both heating up. He punched out two in the first, pitching around a Bobby Witt Jr. single. He walked Drew Waters in the second but again stranded the runner easily.

Lugo had similar success. Zach McKinstry drew a walk in the first with two outs, but Riley Greene flew out. Dillon Dingler opened the bottom of the second with a double into the left field corner. Colt Keith pulled a ground out to the right side of the infield to move Dingler to third, and then Trey Sweeney drew a walk. Unfortunately, the rally fizzled when the Tigers sent Dingler on contact, and he was out at the plate on a soft tapper off the bat of Javier Báez. Ryan Kreidler grounded out and we were on to the third.

Mize continued to thrive in the third, allowing a single to Jonathan India but retiring the side without much difficulty otherwise. The same was true for Lugo, whose deep bag of tricks had Tigers hitters off balance.

In the fourth, Mize quickly got Salvador Perez on a ground ball, and then Maikel Garcia popped out on a nice play by Dillon Dingler in foul territory behind the plate. Michael Massey pulled a grounder to Torkelson, who hit Mize with an aggressive throw as the pitcher covered first base to end the inning. The right-hander was only at 53 pitches through four, so the efficiency had been as good as the results.

Lugo had no trouble returning serve in the bottom half. Greene and Dingler hit the ball hard, but out to Kyle Isbel in center field. A perfect front door twoseam fastball got Colt Keith behind, and he eventually struck out on Lugo’s curveball on the outer half. Lugo appears to throw five or six different breaking balls to go with a splitter, cutter, and two fastball types, so there was a lot to deal with as he can actually command most of them on a given day.

On to the fifth.

The Royals got a break to open the inning when Drew Waters chopped a grounder to Trey Sweeney and the shortstop fired an errant throw. Waters couldn’t advance, but the Royals had the leadoff man in an inning on base for the first time in the game. Mize and Freddy Fermin battled for a bit but the Tigers’ starter won out, popping him up to Báez right on the pitching mound.

Waters and Mize played some cat and mouse, with Mize making a pair of sharp throws over to shorten his lead. Waters eventually did break for second, but Isbel lifted a fly ball to right field for the second out, and Waters had to retreat. Jonathan India followed, singling on a little liner to right field. That wasn’t ideal as it brought Bobby Witt Jr. to the dish with a runner in scoring position. Fortunately, Witt hit it hard but right to Kerry Carpenter in left for the final out.

Mize was through five scoreless innings on 70 pitches, and while the splitter wasn’t too sharp in this one and the whiffs a little less plentiful, he was in total control of the game to this point.

Sweeney opened the bottom half by pouncing on a breaking ball and ripping a liner to right field. Unfortunately, Maikel Garcia was positioned perfectly and barely had to take a step to haul it in. Báez got a slider up and smoked a single to left field. Kreidler couldn’t deal with Lugo’s array of stuff and eventually whiffed on 91 mph right down the middle. That left it up to Carpenter, who reached out and poked a pitch away into left field for another single. Lugo served a pair of curveballs down and away in the zone, and Spencer Torkelson fouled them both off. A high fastball missed and then another perfectly located curveball was fouled off.

Lugo then turned to his splitter for the first time in the at-bat. It was supposed to be away, but it drifted back over the middle of the plate, and Torkelson launched his seventh home run of the young season. Tork recognized the hanger and put a good swing on it, lifting it high and deep into the home bullpen to give his club a 3-0 lead. Our guy is on a 60 HR pace at this point. Incredible.

McKinstry followed with a single against the rattled Lugo, but Greene grounded out to send this to the sixth.

Casey Mize, enjoying the sensation of a sudden lead, went through the heart of the Royals order. With just eight pitches he racked up a pair of ground outs and a fly out, and didn’t get the handshake from A.J. Hinch on his way back to the dugout. Mize was at 78 pitches thrown at this point.

To his credit, Lugo bounced right back with an equally quick 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth, and wasn’t done yet.

Michael Massey hit one hard to start the seventh, but Ryan Kreidler was well positioned to haul it in. Mize punched out Waters, but Fermin got a first pitch sinker up and on the inner edge and launched a solo shot to left. 3-1 Tigers. Kyle Isbel beat out a soft ground ball to Sweeney initially, but Hinch challenged it and the Tigers review process worked well as the call was overturned, ending the half inning.

Another really good start for Casey Mize. The Fermin homer will leave a bad taste in his mouth, but 7 IP, ER, 4 H, BB, 3 K will do nicely, every time. The right-hander now holds a 2.25 ERA through four starts. Chris Fetter and Robin Lund held a conference with Mize in the dugout once his day was done, and the camera work showed a lot of hearty congratulations as Tarik Skubal came over and the group looked through some of Mize’s work on a tablet together.

Lugo got both Báez and Kreidler on swinging third strikes to complete his day in the seventh. With two outs, manager Matt Quatraro came out to get his guy and lefty Daniel Lynch took over to face Kerry Carpenter. The Tigers outfielder popped out to end the inning.

Brenan Hanifee took over in the eighth from Mize. India greeted him with a groundball down the third base line for a double. Not ideal as Witt was up next. Hanifee got Witt to fly out to right field. Pasquantino lined out to Keith on a leap at second base. The Tigers’ second baseman fired to Sweeney at second to back pick India, but threw it away into left field. However, Sweeney held the tag on a diving India like he caught it, and Báez gave nothing away at third by staying where he was rather than running to cover the bag. The artful display of theater from the left side of the infield kept India in place as Carpenter collected the baseball. Sal Perez then made a bid on a fly ball to left, but it died at the wall and Carpenter hauled it in. 3-1 Tigers, and on to the bottom of the eighth.

Right-hander Carlos Estevez took over for the Royals. Torkelson waited him out for a walk, and McKinstry dropped a nice bunt to move Torkelson to second. Estevez made a nice play on the bunt to gun down McKinstry by a whisker at first base. Unfortunately, Riley Greene lifted a shallow fly out to center field. That left it up to Dingler, but he popped out as well.

Will Vest came on to close it out and Garcia grounded out to Sweeney. The throw one-hopped Spencer Torkelson, but he picked it nicely. Hinch had inserted Andy Ibáñez at second base after Keith’s throwing error, and he got a grounder from Massey for the second out. Drew Waters was the Royals last hope, and he gave Vest a pretty good battle. Vest fired nine straight fourseamers as Waters tried to foul them off, working into a full count. Finally, Vest’s 10th heater missed away for a walk. That of course brought the tying run to the dish, and the hitter was Fermin, the only one to do any damage in this one on the Royals’ side.

Waters took second base without a throw, and Vest dug in and really was rearing back with the heater. A checked swing on a slider put Fermin in a 1-2 hole and a fastball was fouled out of play. Vest bounced a slider to make it 2-2 and Dingler did well to smother it. Fermin finally pulled a grounder to Sweeney moving behind second base, but the Tigers’ shortstop double-clutched as he lost his grip, and he fired high as Fermin beat the throw by an instant.

Quatraro inserted Tyler Tolbert as the pinch-runner for Fermin, and that set them up to take second base. Interestingly, A.J. Hinch went out to the mound and brought in the infielders for a meeting to make sure everyone knew exactly what to do with the ball in any situation. Vest rolled his eyes at all this and instead popped up Isbel on the first pitch. Javy Báez camped underneath it, and the Tigers had their third straight victory. Good stuff.

LHP Tarik Skubal will lead the way on Sunday as the 13-8 Tigers hunt for the four-game sweep. He’ll take on RHP Michael Wacha at 1:40 p.m. ET.

Final: Tigers 3, Royals 1