Detroit Tigers right-hander Casey Mize left Sunday's game in Anaheim with an apparent hand injury after taking a sharp grounder off his glove hand in the fourth inning. The Angels went on to win 3-2, ending the Tigers' hopes for a sweep.
Jo Adell hit a line drive up the middle that left his bat at 108.8 mph exit velocity. Mize caught it, trapping the ball against his body. He finished the play but was immediately removed from the game. He had thrown 3 and a third innings, giving up one earned run on five hits, with five strikeouts and one walk.
Before the injury, Mize had been one of the better pitchers in the American League. He entered Sunday with a 2.79 ERA, which ranked seventh in the AL and 18th across all of baseball among pitchers with at least 10 starts. Catcher Jake Rogers spoke about Mize's season before the game. "I think he's always had it in him to be this good," Rogers said. "Everything's clicking right now, and I think him adding you know his that bigger spin, his sweeper curveball thing has really helped him I think that him just locating a splitter really well below the zone and you know having the four seam down and off of it has really helped him too. So, I think just him cleaning up his locations and adding that big spin really helped him. Very cool thing. It was just this year that he did that."
Mize had worked through trouble before he was hurt. In the second inning, Vaughn Grissom doubled and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Third baseman Colt Keith made a diving stop on a grounder but threw wide of first baseman Spencer Torkelson, allowing Grissom to score. In the third, Mize faced two runners with nobody out and escaped with a pop-up and two strikeouts.
Right-hander Drew Anderson came in after Mize left with the game tied 1-1. The Tigers bullpen gave up two more runs after that, which proved to be the difference.
Detroit's offense provided little support. Kevin McGonigle hit a leadoff homer in the first inning, a 402-foot opposite-field blast off Angels starter Ryan Johnson on a sinker, giving the Tigers a quick 1-0 lead. After that, the Tigers managed just two hits through the first six innings. In the fifth, McGonigle drew a walk to load the bases with two outs, but Dillon Dingler struck out to end the threat.
Riley Greene hit a ninth-inning homer to make it 3-2, but the Tigers could not complete the comeback. Detroit fell to 46-53 on the season. According to Yahoo Sports, pitcher Keider Montero has been moved back into the starting rotation ahead of the team's next series.
