MINNEAPOLIS — Casey Mize didn’t start his season finale the way he would have liked.
The rookie gave up three singles and a three-run home run before a mound visit from Detroit Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter sparked his recovery in a rocky 31-pitch first inning. As Mize found his groove the rest of the way, manager AJ Hinch rewarded him with a fist bump — not a handshake — after the third frame.
“I was even curious about (going back out) for the third, honestly,” Mize said. “When I gave three runs through two (innings), similar to the start against the (Tampa Bay) Rays at home. I got pulled after two when I gave thee runs there, so I thought after two it could be it. After three, I was like, ‘Who knows? I’m pretty sure I’m done.'”
A fist bump indicates a return to the mound, whereas a handshake means the outing is complete. Pitching under strict innings restrictions since the beginning of September, Mize had not been allowed to work into the fourth inning.
That changed Wednesday night.
“All right, let’s go,” Hinch told him. “You got three hitters.”
Mize returned for the fourth and retired the three batters he faced to finish with a 3.71 ERA over 150⅓ innings in 30 starts. The Tigers’ offense, however, couldn’t recover from their deficit, losing 5-2 to the Minnesota Twins in the second of three games at Target Field.
The Tigers (75-83) have dropped four games in a row.
“We had a hard time coming up with a big hit again,” Hinch said. “We have not been as productive offensively as our norm, so it’s pretty frustrating when you get the opportunities the last couple of nights, and especially tonight when we didn’t chip away at them whenever we had the opportunity after falling down.”
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Although Mize finished strong, he didn’t look sharp at the beginning.
The first four batters collected hits: Luis Arraez (single), Byron Buxton (single), Jorge Polanco (three-run homer) and Josh Donaldson (single). The singles from Arraez, Buxton and Donaldson occurred with two strikes. The home run from Polanco, meanwhile, came on a first-pitch two-seam fastball in the strike zone.
When Donaldson put Mize’s slider into center for a single, Fetter marched up the dugout stairs and approached the mound for a conversation.
Mize then took a splitter-heavy approach to get Max Kepler to pop out before returning to a fastball-heavy attack to strike out Miguel Sano (96 mph fastball) and Nick Gordon (83 mph curveball) to conclude the first inning.
“To sum it up, I think he got pissed,” Hinch said. “He comes out and gives up a three-spot right away, and his fastball picked up. It was 91-92 (mph) to the first couple of hitters and 95 (mph) at the end. The four-seamer worked as the night went on.”
“I had a vision for how I wanted this last start to go, and giving up a three-run homer in the first did not match that,” Mize added. “Being upset and pissed off led to some good F-you fastballs that I was able to throw and just gave me confidence in that pitch.”
Mize retired 12 of his final 13 batters. The 24-year-old also sent down seven in a row after Arraez added a second-inning single.
His second MLB season ended when Jake Cave struck out swinging at a 95 mph fastball.
“Before he even got loose, it was 3-0,” Hinch said. “He had to recover a lot. I think that was a big key. We wanted to get him confident. That’s why we gave him the fourth inning because of how well he pitched in the third inning.”
Mize allowed three runs on five hits over his four innings, producing four strikeouts without a walk. He thew 42 of 65 pitches for strikes, using 34 four-seam fastballs (52%), 14 sliders (22%), seven knuckle curveballs (11%), six splitters (9%) and four sinkers (6%).
He generated eight swings and misses: six with his four-seamer and two with his curveball.
Foley looks good
Right-handed reliever Jason Foley replaced Mize for the fifth inning.
He picked up the first perfect inning of his 11-game MLB career, retiring Ryan Jeffers, Arraez and Buxton in order. The 25-year-old made his MLB debut in June, and despite his 2.61 ERA, entered Wednesday with a 6.26 expected ERA.
“We got to continue to push these guys,” Hinch said. “We have very few opportunities the rest of the way to get them into different spots of the game. … You start subtracting guys and you wind up giving Foley an opportunity to come in and throw some really aggressive sinkers and a few good sliders. I thought he threw the ball well.”
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Jeffers struck out looking on a 96 mph fastball, Arraez flied out on a 97 mph fastball and Buxton struck out swinging on a 98 mph fastball.
Foley threw 11 of 16 pitches for strikes.
The Tigers finished the loss with thee more relievers: Kyle Funkhouser (sixth inning), Derek Holland (seventh) and Joe Jimenez (eighth). Kepler singled off Jimenez to score Buxton, who was hit by an 82 mph slider, to give the Twins a 4-1 lead.
Gordon chipped in a sacrifice fly for a 5-1 advantage.
“The first-pitch backup slider hits Buxton, and that’s dangerous from the get-go,” Hinch said about Jimenez’s outing. “He’s going to start running the bases and creating havoc. Now our defense is in different positioning, and their situational hitting at that point was pretty good.”
Offense falters
A comebacker from Harold Castro drilled Twins starter Michael Pineda in the leg in the fourth inning. When Pineda picked up the ball, he turned and threw to second base ahead of the slow-moving Miguel Cabrera.
But Grossman paid close attention, darting to home plate when Pineda adjusted his hips to record the force out. He scored easily, trimming the deficit to 3-1 with two outs.
The play produced the Tigers’ first run, even though they advanced at least one runner into scoring position in the second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth innings. Rather than taking advantage of the opportunities, the Tigers finished 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
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Pineda allowed one run on eight hits over 5⅔ innings, without issuing a walk. He struck out five and tossed 61 of 85 pitches for strikes.
“He lived on the edge a little bit,” Hinch said. “We got a few runners on and we got to double-digit left-on-base. He won the at-bats with two outs. We hit a couple balls pretty hard, a couple unlucky bullets off of different people and then a couple balls that he made us chase, specifically with guys on second base.”
In the eighth inning, Eric Haase crushed Twins reliever Tyler Duffey’s curveball to straightaway center field with two outs and a runner on first. The ball carried 409 feet — until it was brought back into play by Buxton’s leaping catch.
The Tigers put up a mini-rally in the ninth inning, as Jonathan Schoop singled up the middle to drive in Daz Cameron, who had been hit by a pitch, from second in the ninth inning. The single extended Schoop’s hitting streak to 10 games.
With runners on first and second, Robbie Grossman struck out for the second out of the inning, and Cabrera grounded to third to end the game against Alex Colome.
Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.