Cleveland — Casey Mize, quietly, steadily, has become a rock in the Tigers’ ever-shifting rotation.
With a bullpen stretched extra thin, Mize was tasked with not only controlling the pesky Guardians offense, but to do it efficiently and eat a minimum of six innings.
Mission accomplished.
Mize pitched seven scoreless innings Saturday with no margin for error, helping the Tigers squeak out a 1-0 win against the Guardians at Progressive Field. It was the Guardians’ ninth straight loss.
“I felt like I was executing pretty well,” said Mize, who improves to 9-2, dropping his ERA to 2.63. “Rog (catcher Jake Rogers) and I, it felt like we were on the same page and he called a great game, stole a few strikes for me which I was happy about.
“But it was good to get into a rhythm and keep it going.”
This had to be a special night for Rogers, as much as it was for Mize. These two have a long history together, going back to Double-A ball in 2019. Both have ridden a turbulent rollercoaster at times in their careers and now find themselves contributing steadily to the winningest team in the American League.
“I’ve seen Casey evolve, I really have,” Rogers said. “We’ve been together for a while and I’ve known him forever. We have been through the ups and downs together, had TJ (Tommy John surgery) at about the same time in 2022 and we were both down.
“But, yeah, we’ve yelled at each other and been the best of friends for a long time. He’s truly a great guy and to see him have the success he’s having makes me really happy for him.”
Mize didn’t allow a hit until Jose Ramirez lined a single with two outs in the fourth. The only time he was in real trouble was the sixth, when Brayan Rocchio led off with a double to right field and Mize didn’t flinch. He got Steven Kwan to fly to left and struck out Nolan Jones the first depth-slider he’d thrown him in three at-bats.
After manager AJ Hinch put up four fingers and issued an intentional walk to Ramirez, Mize ended the inning getting Carlos Santana out on a lazy fly to center.
“I kind of like those situations, to be honest,” Mize said when asked about pitching with zero margin for error. “It’s not the best situation to be in, but I like having to be a little fine and be as perfect as I can.”
BOX SCORE: Tigers 1, Guardians 0
The Jones punch-out, going to an unused pitch at the end of a long at-bat, was an illustration of how Mize stayed on top of the Guardians hitters.
“He’s just attacking the zone,” Rogers said. “That’s the biggest thing our pitching coaches and (president) Scott Harris preach: We need strike one, attack the zone. Casey has done a really good job of that so I am able to call all sorts of pitches at any time.
“Him being in the zone with all of them makes it real easy for a catcher to go, ‘Let’s just throw a slider backdoor here.’ And we get the strikeout on Jones.”
Things got a little hairy in the seventh. Angel Martinez drove a ball to the wall in center that Matt Vierling ran down and the next hitter, Bo Naylor, lined a two-out, ground-rule double to right.
No sweat.
Mize got Johnathan Rodriguez to bounce out to shortstop.
“Not only a well-pitched game, but it was when we needed it the most,” Hinch said. “We’ve used our bullpen a lot and had multiple guys down. The responsibility falls on the starting pitcher and Casey stepped up and gave us everything that we needed to win this game.
“Just an incredible performance.”
Since coming back from a hamstring strain, Mize’s four-seam fastball has been lively, not only in terms of velocity (94 to 97 mph) but also with the ride through the zone. He was spotting it at the top and bottom of the zone Saturday and mixing splitters, bullet sliders and depth sliders.
It was a masterclass in pitching to contact and missing barrels. He induced 11 groundouts.
“Commanding the heater was probably the best thing,” Mize said. “I didn’t get a ton of swing and miss on the splitter but the fastball command made up for that. With eight left-handed hitters in there, I knew the heater command was going to be really important.
“If they’re trying to pull the ball and I am able to command the ball away, that kind of puts them on the ground.”
He’s allowed two earned runs or less in six straight starts. It was the third time he’s gone seven innings this season and the first time since June 2024 that he threw more than 100 pitches (102).
“I went into the offseason searching for ways to get better,” Mize said. “We came up with a plan and I’m still executing it in July. I’m still figuring some things out. I’m not a finished product. But to see that plan working and being able to aggressively pursue it instead of always searching in between starts, that feels pretty good.”
Lefty Brant Hurter pitched a clean eighth inning. And after Will Vest threw 25 pitches to earn a four-out save Friday, Tommy Kahnle got the ball in the ninth and dispatched Ramirez and Santana before walking Daniel Schneemann on four pitches.
That set up a confrontation with left-handed hitting pinch-hitter Kyle Manzardo. Kahnle punched him out for his ninth save.
“We knew the relievers that were available were going to have to pitch in different situations,” Hinch said, meaning Hurter, Chase Lee and Bailey Horn. “We knew we had Tommy and that was it as far as the guys who usually pitch in those situations. But that was some of the best stuff Hurter’s had in the last couple of weeks.
“Whether it was adrenaline or the energy of a 1-0 game, he really locked in.”
The offense, which produced 22 runs in three games in Washington, has been mostly muted in Cleveland.
The Tigers turned two solo homers into a 2-1 win Friday.
And Saturday, Spencer Torkelson’s 20th home run, another solo shot, was the only marker against soft-tossing lefty Logan Allen. In fact, Torkelson’s two hits, he also singled, were the only hits the Tigers mustered in the game.
“We won a series, so at the end of the day, we don’t care how we win,” Hinch said. “Never be mad at a win, especially a series win against a division opponent.”
There was one injury scare. All-Star second baseman Gleyber Torres left the game in the first inning. After he walked and extended his on-base streak to 18 games, he was out at second on a fielder’s choice ground ball.
He slid short of the bag and shortstop Rocchio fell over top of him, driving his forearm and elbow into Torres’ neck.
Torres laid on the ground for a couple of minutes and was woozy as he walked off the field. The team’s initial diagnosis was a neck contusion.
“All good,” Torres said as he walked past reporters after the game.
Hinch confirmed that.
“He got elbowed in the neck and it jarred him,” Hinch said. “When I went out there, he said he felt a little off and we erred on the side of caution and took him out. They (the trainers) came to me in about the third or fourth inning and notified me he was doing well and everything is fine.
“Just a scare but it looked painful on an awkward collision.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
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