DETROIT – The Tigers ended their seven-game home losing streak, but it might have come at a price.
“I wanted to come in here and celebrate a win,” manager A.J. Hinch lamented at his postgame press conference following Wednesday’s 4-0 victory over the Angels at Comerica Park. “We’ve won two of the last three games; I know it doesn’t feel like it. We played a really good game tonight, and obviously have some medical things to go through.”
Both injuries were groin issues to the pitchers at the bookends of the victory. Starter Casey Mize struck out six Angels over four scoreless innings, continuing his stellar stretch since returning from a right adductor strain, then went back to the clubhouse with a potential aggravation of the injury.
“Same area,” he said. “Just the sensation of it, I would say, is less than last time. Obviously, we’ll know in the next couple days, but I don’t think it was as bad as what I felt in Atlanta [on April 28]. But we’ll see.”
Mize missed nearly three weeks with the adductor strain. He has allowed just two runs over 16 2/3 innings with one walk and 14 strikeouts since his return, lowering his ERA for the season to 2.27. With Tarik Skubal and Justin Verlander out with injury, and Framber Valdez and Jack Flaherty battling inconsistencies, Mize has been the Tigers’ best starter since his return, providing quality and quantity in innings.
He was all set to do more of the same Wednesday. He struck out six of his first 13 batters, including a pair of called third strikes won on ABS challenges from Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler. Mize’s only hits allowed were a line-drive single from Jorge Soler leading off the second inning and a Donovan Walton ground ball that bounced off first base and veered past first baseman Spencer Torkelson.
Then, Mize felt something on his sixth strikeout. At first glance, his wince and hop could have been brushed off as lamenting a slider over the middle that Soler swung through.
“On the last pitch to Soler, I kind of felt it tighten up a little bit,” Mize said. “And then the three following pitches to [Wade] Meckler, at that point, I’m just trying to throw them in there. It didn’t get any worse on those three throws. Just learning a little bit from last time. Just to give myself the best shot [at recovery], I just didn’t want to go back out for the fifth tonight. Just thought it would be best to call it and see how the next couple days go.”
While Mize talked with assistant athletic trainer Kelly Rhoades, Drew Anderson began warming in Detroit’s bullpen. Anderson followed with three perfect innings of relief, helped by another called third strike on a Dingler challenge.
The combined pitching supported Detroit’s early lead built off Angels starter José Soriano, who hadn’t allowed an earned run in nine career innings against the Tigers before Wednesday. Detroit greeted him with three consecutive singles, including a blooper into center from Dingler to drive in Colt Keith. Torkelson turned on a Soriano fastball and drilled it deep to left for his eighth homer of the season to lead off the second inning. Kevin McGonigle walked and scored on a Riley Greene single in the fifth inning, then singled and scored on a Logan O’Hoppe passed ball in the seventh.
The combined effort should have made for a relatively simple ninth inning for closer Kenley Jansen, facing his most recent former club for the first time since signing with the Tigers as a free agent on Dec. 17. However, Jansen seemed to move gingerly when running over to first base on O’Hoppe’s groundout to lead off the inning. Then, he seemed to stumble on the mound following through on a pitch to Zach Neto.
“He didn’t feel pain,” Hinch said. “He just kind of felt like his leg gave out.”
Jansen, who battled through right groin tightness early in the month but never went on the injured list, stayed in the game. But he called out Hinch and assistant athletic trainer Chris McDonald following a four-pitch walk to Mike Trout, ending a streak of 20 consecutive batters retired by Tigers pitchers.
“Once he looked in the dugout again, it was going to be over for him,” Hinch said.
The Tigers already have 14 players on the injured list, including nine pitchers. If Mize misses time, they could end up swapping one IL spot for another.
Ty Madden, who pitched well as an injury replacement earlier this month before a hard-hit comebacker forced him to the injured list with a right forearm contusion, could be ready to return after an effective rehab start Monday for Triple-A Toledo.