Casey Mize was solid, and Andy Ibáñez had the game winning RBI before Dingler stole the show.
The Detroit Tigers remained undefeated with a 4-0 victory over the New York Yankees on Sunday. Casey Mize’s first outing looked pretty solid, and Dillon Dingler’s scorched two-run homer in the fourth inning was the big difference maker in this one. Jace Jung added a pair of doubles and Colt Keith chipped in two hits of his own in the victory.
The Tigers faced right-hander Sean Boyle, who is in Yankees camp as a non-roster invitee. He hasn’t had that much success in his career, but his stuff is major league caliber. Matt Vierling started things off with a ground out to shortstop off a sinker. Colt Keith, getting his first ever start at first base, swung over a changeup for strike three, and Wenceel Pérez grounded out on the sinker as well.
Casey Mize came out in the bottom half throwing hard. The Tigers right-hander reached 98 mph, mixing in the splitter and slider. He gave up a single to Cody Bellinger but no more. Hitters are still seeing the splitter as a low fastball pretty often and just taking it, and that remains a problem. We didn’t see much evidence of Mize trying to use his fastball down to help set up the split, but of course it’s the first outing of the year. It’s just something to watch for over the next five weeks.
Jace Jung led off the second with a double off the base of the right field wall. He probably would’ve been thrown out at second but Anthony Volpe whiffed on the one-hopper from the outfield and Jung was safe. Andy Ibáñez grounded out, but Trey Sweeney drew a walk to put runners at first and second for Dillon Dingler. A Boyle curveball got a grounder to third that the Yankees turned into a double play to end the inning.
Hao-Yu Lee, starting at second base, made a nice sliding play on an Anthony Volpe grounder up the middle for the first out of the second. Mize, still throwing 96-97, mixed in plenty of splitters against DH J.C. Escarra, but he wasn’t getting the whiffs and eventually a fastball in to the left-handed hitter was pulled down the line for a single. Mize settled in and dusted Alex Jackson on a 97 mph sinker, then got an 0-1 whiff on the splitter before finishing Duke Ellis off with a 97.5 mph fourseamer that Ellis swung through.
Pretty good outing from Mize. Two singles, three punch outs, no runs. Five whiffs on 33 pitches. He maxed out at 98.1 mph and did post a top IVB of 20 inches, which is outstanding. His average of 17 inches is still a little above average. The splitter still wasn’t fooling too many hitters, but the project to mix in more fastballs at the bottom of the zone could help. Mize’s bigger goal right now is developing his slider, and we saw a mix of harder ones around 90 mph and a version with more depth at 86 mph. There was also one breaker that was more of a sweeper in the low-80’s that might be more of a bat misser if he can dial it in.
Hao-Yu Lee led off the top of the third by lining out to left field at 109.8 mph. Good swing. Jahmai Jones singled and the lineup turned over as Matt Vierling, leading off for the Tigers, came to the dish for the second time and laced a changeup for a single into left field. Colt Keith followed with a deep fly ball to the warning track in left. Jasson Dominguez lost it in the sun and the ball dropped for a single, which loaded the bases. However, Jones then tried to catch the Yankees napping and he was thrown out at home by a mile. A pickoff throw to second from Boyle skipped into left-center field but Jones’ mistake meant there was no one at third to take advantage and score. Wenceel Pérez struck out on a changeup and the Tigers were turned away.
Reliever Tyler Owens, who is a pretty good candidate to join the Tigers bullpen sometime this season, took the mound in the bottom of the third. He was up to 97.3 mph with his fourseamer, and racked up a quick ground out from Oswaldo Peraza before Jazz Chisholm lined a single to right field. Owens froze Goldschmidt with a cutter at the top of the zone for strike three, and Bellinger flew out to right field to end the inning.
Right-hander Fernando Cruz took over from Boyle and Jace Jung greeted him with another double off the right field wall. Ibáñez pulled a drive up the left field gap for an RBI single and took second on the throw in. 1-0 Tigers.
Trey Sweeney took a splitter for a called strike three, but Dingler got a heater down the pipe and hammered it to left at 111.6 mph for a two-run shot. We love it. 3-0 Tigers.
Hao-Yu Lee lifted a high fly out to center field, and Jones struck out to end the top of the fourth, but the Tigers had a lead to work with.
Lefty Dietrich Enns took over from Owens in the bottom half. Enns is a journeyman 33-year-old reliever who went to Central Michigan and has bounced from the minor leagues to Korea and back this season trying to establish himself. He acquitted himself just fine in his Tigers debut with three quick ground outs recorded. Colt Keith made a nice scoop on a low throw from Jung at third base to get Anthony Volpe along the way.
RHP Cam Schlittler took over in the fifth for the Yankees. Matt Vierling led off by drawing a walk and minor league speedster Seth Stephenson came in to pinch run as Vierling’s day ended. Colt Keith lined a single the opposite way for his second knock of the game. Andrew Navigato pinch ran for Keith. Wenceel Pérez pulled a little chopper to second base for a ground out that advanced both runners. Justyn-Henry Malloy grounded out to third, and that left it up to Thayron Liranzo, hitting for Ibáñez as the DH. The young catcher, who is Double-A bound after a great 2024, showed some patience but a 2-2 breaking ball down and in got a whiff to strand two.
At this point, Navigato took over at third, while Eddys Leonard entered the game at shortstop. Roberto Campos took over from Pérez in right field. Enns, throwing 92-93 mph and looking pretty solid, punched out Alex Jackson to start the bottom half of the fifth. He then got Duke Ellis swinging through a high fastball. Oswald Peraza got a curveball down and away first pitch and grounded out to send us to the sixth. Pretty good debut for Enns, with two strikes over two perfect frames.
Schlitter came back out for his second inning as the Yankees broadcast team expressed fear of mispronunciation of his name. They didn’t worry long as the right-hander quickly dispatched Leonard, Tomas Nido, and then Lee, with the last coming on a called strike three that stood up to an ABS challenge.
Right-hander Jordan Balazovic took over from Enns in the bottom of the sixth. He punched out Andrew Velasquez, and then Jahmai Jones made a nice tumbling catch in left field to get T.J. Rumfield. Balazovic was up to 94.4 mph with the fourseamer, He mixed in some good changeups to left-handed hitting Alexander Vargas and punched his ticket on a curveball for a swinging strike three. Pretty solid outings from the Tigers’ relievers in this one, though they were facing minor leaguers for the most part.
RHP Geoff Hartlieb took over for the Yankees in the seventh. Jahmai Jones drew a leadoff walk on a successful challenge. Presumably the veteran Triple-A guys are well ahead of the curve in knowing when to use the challenges and when to take their medicine. Austin Murr came in to run for him and take over in left field. Seth Stephenson struck out swinging after an eight pitch battle, and Andrew Navigato lifted a shallow fly ball to right field for the second out of the inning. That brought Roberto Campos to the dish with Murr still on first base. Hartlieb fired four strikes over the middle and got Campos swinging through a fastball for strike three.
Stretch time.
Balazovic got the first out of the seventh, but walked Brendan Jones. Rafael Flores singled off a hanging changeup to put runners at first and second with one out. Balazovic battled Cole Gabrielson for eight pitches, but eventually got a grounder to Leonard at shortstop for the 6-4-3 double play to turn away the Yankees. Still 3-0 Tigers after seven frames.
RHP Michael Arias was next on the mound for the Yankees in the eighth. Malloy grounded out on a first pitch sinker. Liranzo saw some tricky changeups from Arias’ low arm slot, and then 97 mph sinkers, one of which he nearly hit out the opposite way before it tailed just foul and just short of the wall. Liranzo fouled off a few tough 2-2 changeups, but eventually whiffed on a high sinker for strike three. Eddys Leonard singled through the right side, but Nido popped out to end the frame.
Right-hander Garrett Burhenn was on the mound next for the Tigers. The now 25-year-old had a pretty good campaign for Double-A Erie last year and features a solid fastball-slider combination. Juan Matheus greeted him with a single off the glove of Leonard at shortstop. Burhenn struck out Jared Wegner and got Andrew Velasquez to fly out to Stephenson in center field. A high fastball at 96.3 mph tied up T.J. Rumfield, who flew out weakly to right field to send us to the ninth inning.
Carlos Mendoza led off the top of the ninth by flicking a double to left field. The speedy runner took second easily and then scored on an Austin Murr double into the right field corner. 4-0 Tigers. Stephenson struck out, Navigato grounded out, and Roberto Campos swung through a breaking ball for strike three to send us to the bottom of the ninth.
Left-hander Carlos Pena took over to close this out for the Tigers. He did so with relative ease in series of High-A to Double-A level matchups. A ground out, a fly out, and hot grounder to Mendoza at second base for the final out put a bow on this one.
The Tigers remain undefeated and still #gritty. They’ll welcome in the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday afternoon with Keider Montero starting, and then hit the road to take on the Orioles on Tuesday afternoon with Jackson Jobe on the bump. Both games are scheduled at 1:05 p.m. ET. Tarik Skubal is set for his first outing on Wednesday at home against the Twins.
In injury news, Parker Meadows is reportedly dealing with bicep soreness, but it isn’t regarded as anything serious and it doesn’t sound like it will keep him out more than a few games at most.