TAMPA — The Detroit Tigers beat the New York Yankees, 7-2, on Sunday at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Detroit is 5-4-1 in Grapefruit League play.

What happened

The Tigers rolled out two of their regular starters — right-handers Matt Manning and Casey Mize — to face the best hitters in the Yankees' organization.

The first five batters in New York's lineup: DJ LeMahieu, Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton. Alex Verdugo was supposed to be in the star-studded lineup as well, but he was scratched with a left leg contusion.

Manning tossed three innings of one-run ball with zero walks and four strikeouts; Mize tossed two scoreless innings with two walks and two strikeouts.

[ MUST LISTEN: Make "Days of Roar" your go-to Detroit Tigers podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ]

The Tigers took a 3-1 lead with two runs in the fifth inning against left-handed reliever Caleb Ferguson. Jake Rogers opened the inning with a double to left field, followed by Zach McKinstry's eighth walk in 14 plate appearances this spring.

Ferguson retired the next two batters, then was replaced by right-handed reliever Alex Mauricio. Matt Vierling drove in Rogers and McKinstry with a two-run double to left field off Mauricio's cutter in the strike zone, putting the Tigers ahead, 3-1.

It was Vierling's first hit of spring training.

Starting off

Manning dominated with a high-velocity fastball, an improved changeup, and two variations of his slider, also mixing in one curveball. His changeup has more velocity and more depth, and he added a harder version of his slider with more velocity.

His fastball averaged 95.4 mph against the Yankees, up from a 93.4 mph average last season.

"I thought it was good," Manning said. "I had conviction and command of all my pitches. I got a lot of swing and miss, threw a lot of strikes, kept them off balance and kept our team in the ballgame."

JEFF SEIDEL: How Tigers No. 1 prospect Max Clark learned to be himself again

Manning surrendered a 405-foot solo home run to Juan Soto with one out in the first inning, but he retired the other nine batters he faced. He bounced back from Soto's homer by striking out Aaron Judge (swinging, 83.3 mph slider) and Anthony Rizzo (swinging, 95.7 mph fastball).

He struck out Austin Wells swinging with a devastating 91.1 mph changeup below the strike zone for the second out in the second inning. He also struck out Jeter Downs on three pitches in the third inning, freezing him with a 96.5 mph fastball for a called third strike.

Manning was asked about his approach to spring training games.

"Pitch, throw hard, win," he said.

The 26-year-old then was asked about the competition among the starting pitchers in spring training. A combination of Manning, Mize, and Reese Olson is projected to fill the final two rotation spots, joining Tarik Skubal, Kenta Maeda, and Jack Flaherty.

"I feel great," Manning said. "It's a good team. It's a hard team to make. I'm just doing me."

Before Sunday's game, Hinch said Manning "came in prepared to compete" for a spot on the Opening Day roster, but when asked about his manager's words, Manning offered a different perspective.

"I don't think I'm competing for anything," Manning said. "If anything, I'm competing with myself, how good I can be. They're going to take the best five pitchers out of camp. I know who I am as a pitcher. I'm just going to do me."

An intense Manning threw 22 four-seam fastballs, 11 sliders, five changeups and one curveball. He generated five whiffs with one fastball, three sliders, and one changeup. His fastball produced six of his eight called strikes, as well.

Manning has performed well through two starts, combining for one walk and six strikeouts across five innings. He threw 29 of 38 pitches for strikes against the Yankees.

At the plate

Andy Ibáñez, who crushes left-handed pitchers, kickstarted the Tigers on offense with a solo home run — his third of the spring — off left-handed starter Nestor Cortes. After that, Cortes settled in to throw four innings of one-run ball.

The Tigers didn't score again until the two-run fifth inning.

PETZOLD: J.D. Martinez reunion with Tigers would help offense, but it's not happening

The Tigers extended their lead to 7-2 with four runs in the eighth inning. The first six batters reached safely: Keston Hiura (walk), Bligh Madris (single), Ryan Kreidler (hit-by-pitch), Jace Jung (single), TJ Hopkins (walk) and Buddy Kennedy (walk).

The single from Jung scored one run for a 4-2 advantage. Additional runs were scored on bases-loaded walks from Hopkins and Kennedy and Dillon Dingler's bases-loaded sacrifice fly.

On the mound

Right-hander Casey Mize emerged from the bullpen — replacing Manning — to pitch the fourth and fifth innings. The 26-year-old worked around a pair of walks in the fourth, then he worked around a leadoff double in the fifth.

He is still searching for his command in return from elbow surgery and back surgery. It was just his second competitive game since May 12, 2022, in Triple-A Toledo.

ACE: Tigers announce Tarik Skubal to start Opening Day against Chicago White Sox

Mize walked Judge on six pitches and Rizzo on five pitches.

He gave up a double to Brandon Lockridge on his 93.6 mph fastball at the bottom of the strike zone, but after a flyout, he sent down his final two batters with strikeouts: Downs (looking, 96.3 mph fastball) and LeMahieu (swinging, 95.9 mph fastball).

Mize used 23 fastballs, six sliders, six curveballs and three splitters. His fastball averaged 95.4 mph, generated both of his whiffs and recorded three of his six called strikes.

He threw 19 of 38 pitches for strikes.

Right-handed reliever Alex Lange surrendered a leadoff single to Soto and paid for falling behind 3-0 to Rizzo, who hammered a fourth-pitch, middle-middle fastball for an RBI double. The Yankees cut the Tigers' lead to 3-2, but Lange escaped without further damage. Strikeouts accounted for all three of his outs.

Three stars

1. Manning, 2. Ibáñez, 3. Vierling.

Next up

Monday (1:05 p.m.) vs. Boston Red Sox in Lakeland.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

Listen to our weekly Tigers show "Days of Roar" every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Matt Manning dominates in Detroit Tigers' 7-2 win vs. Yankees