The Tigers had a tougher test in lefty Tyler Anderson as they looked to avoid the sweep in Anaheim. Casey Mize spun another gem, and the Tigers knocked Anderson out early and on this day, got good work from the bullpen to hold the lead. That is, until the ninth inning, when Shelby Miller was rocked for two home runs and five runs total to nearly blow the game. Instead, they held on to win 7-6, but no one left this one feeling very good about it.
After another tough loss, the Tigers got started quickly on Sunday. Andy Ibáñez led off the game with a triple, and a sacrifice fly to center off the bat of Mark Canha made it 1-0 Tigers. Casey Mize allowed a leadoff single as well, but a Luis Rengifo double play ball meant Mize faced the minimum in the bottom of the first. The right-hander got into trouble in the second inning with leadoff walks to Willie Calhoun and Miguel Sano, but a strikeout of Logan O’Hoppe and a Zach Neto double play ball cleaned up the inning.
Justyn-Henry Malloy led off the third with a solid single. Lefty Tyler Anderson carved up Ryan Kreidler, but Ibáñez singled Malloy to second base. Unfortunately, this went nowhere as Canha struck out and Riley Greene flew out to center field.
Mize allowed a leadoff single in the bottom half to Mickey Moniak. The Angels center field promptly stole second, but Jo Adell grounded out, and Kreidler made a nice play to cut down the lead runner at third on a Nolan Schanuel ground ball. Luis Rengifo lined one off Mize but he recovered to get the out and wrap up the third inning.
With one out in the fourth, the Tigers struck again. Carson Kelly singled with one out, and Wenceel Pérez, batting right-handed, pulled a one-hopper over the wall in left field for an automatic double. Gio Urshela grounded out to third, but Kelly beat the throw home and it was 2-0. At that point Justyn-Henry Malloy launched a deep drive to center field that kicked off the wall away from Moniak. Pérez scored easily and Joey Cora almost lifted off the planet Earth windmilling Malloy around. Neither corner outfielder had come over to back up Moniak, and Malloy was around third before Moniak got the ball in, sliding in with a two-run inside-the-park home run.
Ok, that was fun. We haven’t seen one of those since the days of Victor Reyes. 4-0 Tigers.
Justyn-Henry Malloy’s inside-the-park home run was the first for Detroit since Victor Reyes hit one on August 27, 2021.
— Tigers PR (@DetroitTigersPR) June 30, 2024
Casey Mize meanwhile wasn’t racking the whiffs to an great extent, but he was really keeping the Angels off balance and got ground balls whenever he needed one. Mize spun a quick 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth, and the Tigers’ offense got back to work ensuring they wouldn’t be swept in this series.
In the top of the fifth, Ibáñez led off with a single. A scuffling Canha popped out, and Riley Greene popped out off the left-hander as well. However, Jake Rogers singled, and Ron Washington went to his bullpen for right-hander Andrew Wantz. Carson Kelly stepped to the dish and crushed a 2-1 fastball to center field for a three-run shot. 7-0 Tigers.
O’Hoppe singled off of Mize to lead off the bottom half, but yet again Mize got the double play ball. This time it was a sharp one hopper that Mize himself snared to begin a 1-4-3 double play. Moniak flew out to left to end the inning. Casey Mize didn’t really have the splitter going in this one, but he still had 11 whiffs to this point, with just three singles and two walks allowed through five innings.
The Tigers went quickly in the top of the sixth. Mize popped up Jo Adell to start the bottom half, but after running in trying to help on the pop-up, Mize then reached for the back of his leg and ended up leaving the game with what was described as a cramp. Kind of looked more like a hamstring issue, but we’ll see. Either way it didn’t seem terribly serious and Mize left under his own power as Alex Faedo had to quickly warm up and get into the game.
The whiffs weren’t as prevalent for Mize in this one, but he got ground balls at will off the slider, collecting multiple double plays when needed. He finished with 5.1 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 2 K on the day, dropping his ERA to a 4.23 mark halfway through the season.
Faedo quickly gave up a single to Schanuel and then Rengifo knifed a hot ground ball into the left field corner for a double that got Schanuel to third. Faedo punched out Tayler Ward, and Brandon Drury came on to pinch-hit after missing the rest of the series with a virus. A Faedo breaking ball went through Carson Kelly’s wickets and scored Schanuel before Faedo struck out Drury to end the inning. It was charged a wild pitch, but I’m calling it a passed ball as it was down and just off the plate as called for.
Wantz came out of the game for the top of the seventh, with right-hander Carson Fulmer taking over. The Tigers hit a couple balls hard but got nothing in the inning to show for it.
Faedo spun a quick eighth with the help of a pair of at’em balls. The Tigers went in order in the top of the eighth as well. Andrew Chafin took over in the bottom half against left-handed hitting Mickey Moniak. Chafin punched Moniak out swinging for the first out. Jo Adell pulled a solid single to left field, but Chafin’s command was in vintage form and he tagged the outer edge with a fastball to freeze Schanuel for the second out of the inning. Luis Guillorme lifted a fly ball to Pérez in right field just onto the warning track, and we were on to the top of the ninth. 7-1 Tigers.
The Tigers went in order, and Shelby Miller came on looking to get back on the horse after some rough outings. Instead, the horses trampled him. Miller hit Ward in the head to begin the inning. He looked to be ok, but the Angels wisely pulled him out of the game, with Kevin Pillar coming on to run for him.
Not a very auspicious start, and it would get much, much worse.
Miller got the next two outs, but then walked Matt Thaiss and a 2-1 fastball up to Neto got blasted into the left field seats. 7-4 Tigers.
Well that sucked, but surely this game was well in hand, right? RIGHT??
A chopper from Moniak just over Miller’s glove went for a hit, and Chris Fetter came out to discuss getting Jo Adell for the final out. The mission? Keep the ball out of the middle of the zone, especially the inner half. Instead a first pitch cement mixed right down the middle got blasted to left-center for a two-run shot. You have got to be kidding us, part two.
With the lead crumbling to ruins, a disgusted looking A.J. Hinch stormed to the mound and took the ball without looking at Miller. The veteran right-hander’s ERA went from just over 4.00 to a 6.23 ERA after this debacle. Tyler Holton came on and struck out Schanuel whiffing at a sinker to finally put this one to bed.
What a grotesquely depressing series. Even the one victory felt like a loss in the ninth.
Taylor Ward is OK after being hit on the helmet by a fastball from Shelby Miller, Ron Washington said. Miller and manager A.J. Hinch both apologized and said it wasn’t intentional, Washington said.
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) June 30, 2024