Detroit Tigers' flubs in field hang ineffective Casey Mize out to dry vs. Brewers, 5-4
The Detroit Tigers grabbed an early lead behind a selectively aggressive approach at the plate, but a three-run advantage slowly slipped away as the result of too many mistakes.
The miscues from the Tigers occurred in the third and sixth innings, ultimately leading to two key runs. The Tigers lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4, on Saturday in the second of three games in the series at Comerica Park.
Right-hander Casey Mize allowed five runs (three earned runs) on eight hits and two walks with one strikeout in 5⅓ innings, throwing 97 pitches.
Mize recorded just one swing and miss in another underwhelming performance. The 27-year-old, the No. 1 overall pick in 2018, has struggled to miss bats throughout his entire MLB career.
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But two defensive mistakes — not Mize — burned the Tigers (31-33) in their third consecutive loss.
Rookie second baseman Colt Keith was responsible for the mistake in the third inning that led to at least one run; rookie left fielder Justyn-Henry Malloy was responsible for the mistake in the sixth that led to one run.
The Brewers scored two runs in the third, cutting their deficit to 4-3, after Keith was charged with a fielding error for colliding with right fielder Akil Baddoo near the foul line in shallow right field. The next two outs produced the runs with a flyout and a groundout, but if Keith hadn't run into Baddoo, only one run would've scored.
Keith left the game with left knee discomfort.
The Brewers also scored two runs in the sixth inning, taking a 5-4 lead, when Malloy fielded a double in the gap in left-center field. One runner had already scored, but a second runner ended up scoring because Malloy took too long fielding the ball, gathering himself with a spin before throwing the ball to the cutoff man.
The cutoff man, shortstop Javier Báez, nearly threw out Blake Perkins trying to score, but his on-target throw to catcher Carson Kelly was a tad late.
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Casey Mize misses one bat
Somehow, Mize pitched into the sixth inning, despite a lack of effective pitches.
Mize, who benefited from ground-ball outs, recorded just one whiff, on a splitter, on 36 swings, for a 2.8% whiff rate. He didn't generate a single whiff on 16 swings against his four-seam fastball. Mize battled fastball command issues, and his secondary pitches weren't competitive.
The first batter of the game worked a six-pitch walk, advanced to second on a balk and scored on Christian Yelich's ground-ball single to right field, making it 1-0 Brewers.
The Brewers scored two unearned runs in the third inning, cutting their deficit to 4-3, after Keith's fielding error.
Mize stranded two runners in scoring position in the fifth inning, but the Brewers chased him in the sixth with a leadoff walk and a one-out single. Both runners scored when 20-year-old rookie catcher Jackson Chourio ripped an inside fastball for a two-out, two-run double to left field off right-handed reliever Shelby Miller.
The two runs for the Brewers' 5-4 lead in the sixth were charged to Mize's tab.
Early runs for the Tigers
The Tigers scored four runs in the first two innings against right-hander Freddy Peralta.
Gio Urshela tied the game, 1-1, with an RBI single in the first inning, following back-to-back walks from Riley Greene and Mark Canha. The Tigers then took a 4-1 lead in the second inning with Carson Kelly's RBI single and Canha's two-RBI single.
Peralta allowed four runs (three earned runs) on four hits and five walks with three strikeouts in 3⅓ innings. The Tigers didn't score again and had one hit the rest of the way.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers fumble away lead in 5-4 loss to Milwaukee Brewers
