BOSTON -- Unable to spark any late-inning offensive magic, the Tigers let a monster effort from starter Casey Mize go by the wayside as they fell to the Red Sox on Friday night, 1-0, in 10 innings, halting a six-game winning streak while extending their road losing streak to nine games.
The Tigers’ hurler set an early tone by sitting down the first eight Boston hitters that he faced. Working with batterymate Dillon Dingler, Mize and his catcher were able to execute the gameplan they had set coming in.
“We were on the same page throughout the whole night,” said Mize. “We only disagreed on one call and he came out, talked some sense into me, so I threw what he wanted and it worked out. He was great back there.”
“He was incredible,” added Dingler, who was behind the plate for Mize's last start at Fenway Park on Sept. 26. “Honestly, it's a lot of the same guys that we faced last year at the end of the season, so going in, we were pretty comfortable on how we wanted to attack most of their hitters.”
Working into the seventh inning for the first time this season, Mize tossed a season-high 6 2/3 innings, allowing only five base runners -- three via hits -- while lowering his ERA from 3.94 to 2.78.
The defense did well to sweep up the few crumbs that Boston had against him. They snuffed out a hit-by-pitch with a double play to end the fourth inning, then in the following frame, Dingler erased a walk to Ceddanne Rafaela with a pinpoint throw to second base on a stolen base attempt.
Through five innings, Mize faced only one batter over the minimum. On the night, the right-hander threw 94 pitches (58 for strikes) and struck out seven, but did not factor into the decision.
“I think [assistant pitching coach] Robin Lund said something about his slider strike percentage was like 93%,” explained Dingler. “He pretty much just dominated that outer rail with all three of his pitches. It was fun. It made my job easy.”
“Casey was incredible,” said manager A.J. Hinch. “What I told him afterwards was that's the best combo of stuff execution, the way his body’s moving, I mean he was excellent tonight.”
Unfortunately for the Detroit hitters, Red Sox starter Ranger Suarez was also on point as he kept the lineup off balance. The Boston southpaw allowed only two hits and a walk over eight innings.
After three straight game-winning rallies in the eighth or later, the Tigers offense was held scoreless for the third time this season, mustering only four hits on the night. They nearly pulled off another late win, but their ninth-inning rally against Aroldis Chapman ended with two runners stranded.
A wild pitch from Will Vest in the 10th inning allowed Jarren Duran to advance to third base before coming home with the game-winning run off the bat of Masataka Yoshida.
Mize has now made four starts on the season, three of which he has thrown at least 5 2/3 innings while allowing just one or zero runs. Friday night’s effort was his fourth career start of six-plus innings while allowing zero runs.
While the 28-year-old has yet to earn a win in four career starts at Fenway Park, he was able to lower his lifetime ERA at the ballpark to 1.96, with 22 strikeouts over 23 innings.
“I feel good,” Mize said. “I feel like I’ve had three good [starts] and one bad one. I feel fine, but we’ve got to translate them to wins. That’s what I care about the most.”