Maybe the Minnesota series was just a mirage after all. While there was a championship parade going on in Ann Arbor today, there was a hit parade going on at Comerica Park. OK, hit parade may be a little bit too generous. The Tigers didn’t exactly put a 10-spot on the board, but they did something that they haven’t been able to do in a long time, which is get out to an early lead. Kevin McGonigle and Colt Keith set the tone with extra base hits. Still, the more encouraging story today was the hopeful effort from Riley Greene, who drove in four runs total, including a big-time three-run home run in the third inning to give the Tigers a cushion that they haven’t been able to have in the last week or so.
After a pretty brutal outing in Minnesota, I felt like Casey Mize bounced back and looked really sharp today against Miami. I know the conditions in Minnesota were obviously pretty brutal. Still, Casey was aggressive in the zone today, and while there wasn’t a ton of swing and miss necessarily, I felt like the Marlins played into his hands with a lot of swings early in counts. I’ve pretty much accepted that Mize is never going to turn into the big-time swing and miss pitcher that we expected him to be when he was drafted out of Auburn. Still, if he can be economical like he was today, there will definitely be a spot for him in this rotation in the future.
I made sure to highlight the effort that the Tigers got from Drew Anderson today. I thought that he was much better in his last outing, but he was tremendous today. Because Detroit won this game comfortably, this might be an outing that gets a little bit overlooked. Anderson did earn his first Major League save and prevented the Tigers from having to use any of their high-leverage relievers. It sets things up nicely for tomorrow’s pitchers due.
Detroit is looking to complete a sweep tomorrow against the Marlins, with two Cy Young winners on the mound. Tarik Skubal will be taking the ball for the Detroit Tigers, and 2022 National League Cy Young winner Sandy Alcântara will be pitching for the Fish.