DETROIT -- Many Major League starting pitchers will temper their between-starts work down the stretch to conserve their energy for pitches in actual games, the pitches that often matter most. The way Casey Mize had been struggling lately, he wanted to throw more.
His usual between-starts session in the bullpen would last around 25 pitches. He threw over 40 earlier this week to get ready for the Mets.
“Just needed to get back moving correctly on the mound, get the ball feeling good coming out of the hand and executing over the plate,” Mize said. “Normally in a bullpen, you're working on one or two of those things, and I was working on all three, so it required a little bit more this week.”
His bullpen session was long, and his actual start was comparatively short. But in five innings of one-run ball over just 69 pitches in Wednesday’s 6-2 victory over New York at Comerica Park, Mize showed the command and aggressiveness that made him an All-Star earlier this summer before his starts went awry and his role in a potential Tigers postseason rotation became debatable.
Just as important, Mize did it against the kind of dangerous, disciplined lineup the Tigers would have to counter in October. The Mets roughed up starters Charlie Morton and Sawyer Gipson-Long over the first two games of the series, and their combination of patience and power posed a particular test for Mize, who has been challenged to finish off hitters in two-strike counts for much of the summer.
Mize entered Wednesday allowing a .211 batting average and .285 on-base percentage to hitters in two-strike counts, seventh and 10th highest, respectively, among Major League pitchers with at least 250 plate appearances this season. His .278 on-base percentage allowed after 0-2 counts was sixth-highest among MLB pitchers who entered Wednesday with at least 100 innings this season.
Part of the issue was noncompetitive, misexecuted pitches that hitters could shrug off. Part of it was general fastball command.
“Casey has this stuff where he can spray it a little bit and still get his outs and still get it off the barrel and still miss a few bats,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “When he feels like he can’t put the ball where he wants to, I think he puts so much pressure on every pitch. So that’s what he’s been working on …
“Casey holds himself to a super high bar where his misses [location-wise] need to match his intent. And when he does that, the split plays better, the slider plays better, the sweeper plays better and ultimately his fastball plays better. And against this type of team swinging the bat the way that they are, the pitches you nail are obvious. The pitches you don’t need to be in the vicinity of where you’re trying to throw.”
Mize worked ahead Wednesday, throwing first-pitch strikes to his first 11 batters. He put five of his first 13 in 0-2 counts. He still had to work through trouble. Pete Alonso worked out of an 0-2 hole for a first-inning single, then doubled home Francisco Lindor for Mize’s lone run in the third after Lindor ran an 0-2 count to full for a double into the right-field corner. But Mize limited damage and made more pitches than he missed.
None were bigger than back-to-back fastballs he spotted for called third strikes after Jeff McNeil’s single with one out in the second. Mize put Starling Marte in an 0-2 hole, then threw three offspeed pitches well out of the zone to run it full. When Marte fouled off a 3-2 sinker at 96 mph, Mize came back with another, this one at 98 that Marte took for his first strikeout of the day.
Mize put the next batter, Brett Baty, in another 0-2 count. He wasted no time finishing him, challenging him with a 97.4 mph four-seamer over the plate for another third strike.
“When you have that kind of fastball that he had today, I know he felt good because I could see how much he was throwing it,” Hinch said. “And when he has a balanced pitch usage, it’s a good sign.”
After Alonso put the Mets on the board, Mize came back with an 0-2 count on Brandon Nimmo and used two high fastballs to set up a 2-2 splitter. Nimmo hit it, but lined it right at Gleyber Torres. Mize retired his final six batters after that, finishing with statistically his best outing since July 5 against Cleveland.
It’s the kind of outing that works in October. It’s the version of Mize that the Tigers could throw confidently into a playoff rotation, something they didn’t do last year in his first season back from Tommy John surgery.