Casey Mize looked very, very good and the Tigers were able to jump on Logan Gilbert early.
Casey Mize was very good, and again the Detroit Tigers came out with a good game plan against a very good starting pitcher in Mariners’ RHP Logan Gilbert. They pieced together three early runs, and Mize and the bullpen did the rest. When the Mariners did get on the board finally, Riley Greene answered right back with his second home run of the young season. Good stuff. 4-1 Tigers.
The Tigers couldn’t asked for too much more from their first inning against one of the top right-handers in the sport. Zach McKinstry started them off with a solid line drive to center field but right out to Julio Rodriguez for the first out. No matter, as Riley Greene ripped a double down the right field line.
Spencer Torkelson swung over a splitter for strike three, but Greene then scored on a Kerry Carpenter single. A wild throw in to home on the play allowed Carpenter to take second. Colt Keith then fought off a slider in and flared it to left field for an oppo single that scored Carpenter. Another wild throw in from the Mariners outfield allowed Keith to take second, but Manuel Margot struck out. 2-0 Tigers. We’ll take that as a start.
Casey Mize took the mound with a lead, but got himself into a little early trouble too. Victor Robles led off with a single. Mize punched out Rodriguez with a slider after a first pitch sinker rode in and drilled the bat knob. The Mariners wanted a hit by pitch call, but C. B. Bucknor said nah.
Mize walked Cal Raleigh, but a bouncer from Randy Arozarena produced the second out as McKinstry from third base fired it to first after giving second base a look. That brought Luke Raley to the dish. Mize missed first pitch, but fired a good riding fourseamer up for a whiff to even the count. He missed up to make it 2-1, but then dropped in a nasty 89 mph splitter for a swinging strike and liked it so much he did it again. Raley struck out, and the Mariners hopes were foiled.
Gilbert—pronounced Gil-Bear, but no not really—had a much easier time in the second. The loose limbed right-hander got Trey Sweeney, Jake Rogers, and Ryan Kreidler on routine grounders.
Mize carved up Rowdy Tellez with the splitter to start the bottom of the second. That made three strikeouts already. Ryan Bliss flew out to Margot in right field after chasing a slider on the outer edge. Dylan Moore popped out on the infield, and we were on to the third.
McKinstry continued his nice start to the season by leading off the third with a solid single to right field, and he took advantage of Gilbert’s languid delivery by stealing second. Greene struck out trying to check his swing on a slider down and in, but Spencer Torkelson came through with a nice piece of hitting by driving a ball into the right field corner for an RBI double. 3-0 Tigers.
Gilbert whiffed Carpenter on a power curve for the second out, and Cal Raleigh went to the mound for a little conference as Colt Keith stepped in the box. The Tigers lefties were looking for soft stuff, so Gilbert dialed up the heater early in the AB. Keith took a close one in to get to a 2-2 count after falling behind early, and then two more that missed inside to draw a walk. Margot struck out, but Gilbert was already at 62 pitches through three.
Mize began the bottom of the third with a strikeout of J.P. Crawford. The splitter was good, but the fourseamer was really popping with excellent ride, averaging 19 inches of induced vertical break (IVB) early on. Robles gave him a battle but flew out to Margot along the right field line, and Rodriguez grounded out to send us to the fourth.
Entering the fourth, Dan Petry and Jason Benetti began drooling over Gilbert’s smooth delivery and huge extension, rightly so. For his part, Gilbert seemed to remember that, “hey I have a really good fastball, don’t I?” In fact, he does. Jake Rogers got robbed on a strike three call off the plate, but either way the bottom three of the Tigers’ order went down pretty quickly as Gilbert leaned into the hard stuff a little more.
Mize also leaned into the fastball, and while the velocity dipped a little into the 93-94 mph range in this inning, he spotted a good one to freeze Raleigh for his fifth strikeout to open the bottom of the fourth. He got ahead of Arozarena 0-2, but yanked a splitter before popping him up to Rogers on a slider. He then absolutely carved up Luke Raley with splitters for his sixth strikeout. That was 11 straight retired for Mize, with 15 whiffs recorded. Oh yeah, you can get a little excited about this.
Somewhere Al Avila is lighting up a cigar and shaking his head that he didn’t overhaul player development from the start.
Gilbert punched out Greene and Torkelson in a clean fifth.
Mize’s velocity was still down a bit more in the bottom of the fifth, but he still looked great and it wasn’t effecting his performance. He may have just realized he didn’t need to reach back after missing high quite a few times with 95-96 mph early in the game. He quickly got Tellez on a ground out and Bliss on a fly ball and to start the bottom half. Mastrobuoni grounded out to Keith to end the inning, and Mize was through five in 65 pitches. Six strikeouts with just a walk and a single allowed. 14 straight retired.
Despite striking out 10, Gilbert was out of gas and departed after five with a 3-0 Tigers lead on the board. Lefty Gabe Speier took over for Seattle and A.J. Hinch was ready to irritate everyone by pinch-hitting Andy Ibáñez for Kerry Carpenter. Andy flew out to right field, and yep we were a little irritated. Colt Keith struck out on three straight fastballs from the lefty and Margot suffered the same fate to send us to the bottom of the sixth.
McKinstry moved to left field in place of Carpenter, while Ibáñez took over for third. Mize finally showed a little crack in the armor by walking Crawford to lead off the frame. Beau Brieske began warming in the pen as Casey’s command was faltering a bit. However, Mize got a break as Robles drilled a liner and Torkelson dove and snagged it, easily completing the double play as Crawford was off with the pitch. Mize missed two more times to Rodriguez and was running out of gas as he eventually walked the Mariners’ center fielder.
Brieske came on and got ahead of Raleigh, who recently signed a big long-term extension so congrats, with some good changeups. A fastball up popped him up, and the Tigers were through six with a 3-0 lead.
5.2 IP, 0 R, H, 3 BB, 6 K for Mize over 82 pitches.
Hard-throwing Gregory Santos took over for Seattle in the seventh. The right-hander flashed triple digits and got ground outs from Sweeney and Rogers to begin his outing. Ryan Kreidler smacked a single back up the middle to turn the lineup over. He then got a great jump and stole second base easily, but McKinstry grounded out to end the threat.
Brieske quickly got himself in a little trouble by walking Arozarena to start the bottom of the seventh. He then yanked a changeup in the dirt and while Rogers knocked it down, Arozarena took second base. Raley grounded out to Keith at second, and then Tellez lifted a little fly ball to left. McKinstry made a nice sliding catch but Arozarena tagged and scored to make it 3-1 Tigers. Brieske blew away Bliss to end the inning.
Riley Greene didn’t like letting the Mariners back into the game either, and he greeted Trent Thornton with a blast to left center field that just cleared the wall and Arozarena’s glove for his second homer of the season. 4-1 Tigers. Oh yes.
Torkelson, Ibáñez, and Keith all put the ball in play for outs, as Seattle manager Dan Wilson turned to lefty Jhonathan Diaz to handle Keith. It was Will Vest time in the bottom of the eighth.
Vest got a pair of ground outs, while Crawford drove one deep to right center field but Ryan Kreidler ran it down and made a nice play to deny him.
Diaz got Margot on a liner to shortstop that Crawford corralled with a leap. Sweeney pulled a fastball through the right side of the infield for a solid single with one out, and the Tigers were in business again. Unfortunately, they went out of business quickly, as Jake Rogers got a 2-0 breaking ball up, tied himself up on it, and popped out on the infield. Kreidler spoiled a few pitches, but he struck out and it was Tommy Kahnle on for his first save as a Tiger.
The seasoned veteran reliever fell behind Julio Rodriguez 2-0, and then hit him in the back. Less than ideal. He fell behind Raleigh 1-0, but Jake Rogers stole a strike on a changeup down, and Raleigh popped out to Sweeney behind second base. Kahnle is a known nibbler, and he and Arozarena got into a lengthy AB before a soft tapper in front of home plate was handled nicely by Rogers. Rodriguez took second as Raley dug into the left-handed batter’s box. Kahnle again fell behind with a pair of wayward changeups and then fired a nasty one just below the zone for a whiff. One more changeup produced a soft grounder to Torkelson at first, and Tommy Kahnle and the boys celebrated his first save.
Logan Gilbert settled in well in this one and struck out 10, but the Tigers approach early on was really good. Greene, Carpenter, Keith, and Torkelson had the key knocks as you’d expect.
The biggest thing to take away from this was the improvement in Casey Mize’s splitter and slider. He threw the splitter harder and much more effectively in camp than we’ve ever seen him. He worked a ton in the offseason to dial that pitch in, and he also developed two different speed and shapes with his slider. All of that was on display in a very good performance to begin his season. He ran out of gas late in the outing and his command suffered for it but overall an extremely encouraging performance.
Tarik Skubal will take on another very good right-hander in Luis Castillo on Wednesday afternoon at 4:10 p.m. ET.