Tigers' Mize has solid final outing, readies for regular-season start

St. Petersburg, Fla. — You might as well have called Tuesday's Tigers getaway from Florida "A Farewell to Arms."

Good arms.

Especially pleasing for Tigers manager AJ Hinch was the right-side slinging from Casey Mize, as the Tigers wrapped up six weeks of pitching-strong spring camp, along with their Grapefruit League slate, with a 3-3, nine-inning tie against the Rays at Tropicana Field.

Mize, who hasn’t started a big-league, regular-season game since April 2022, tossed five innings Tuesday against a big-boy Tampa Bay lineup.

The Rays got only two hits, and a lone run, against Mize, which came on Yandy Diaz’s solo homer to center. Mize walked none and struck out six.

His next start is set for next week, against the Mets, in the Tigers’ fifth game of the 2024 season, which, for them, begins Thursday against the White Sox, in Chicago.

“He was good, and it was good for him to finish what was a really productive spring for us,” said Hinch, who has watched Mize revive, following his 2022 Tommy John surgery.

“He’s ready to go. I’m proud of Casey — the level of accountability he held himself to. Even on a day when he wasn’t perfect — and today’s a good example — he always pitched strong and finished well.”

Mize’s fastball was hot Tuesday (95 average, 96.8 tops) and his slider was, for him, pleasing. Best of all, his splitter, which has been a bit balky, showed signs of a reunion. He threw 10 of them among his 71 pitches (55 strikes), getting six swings and four whiffs.

“I felt pretty good,” Mize said afterward, as the Tigers cleared from the Tropicana Field visitor’s clubhouse and headed for their charter flight and a Tuesday evening touchdown in Chicago.

“I felt like I had a good fastball all spring. But my offspeed had been a little inconsistent. Today, I felt like I was able to put that all together.

“I threw some really good sliders, and I was really happy with my split.”

The Tigers finished their 2024 spring schedule with a 20-9-4 record and had farmlands first baseman Chris Meyers to thank for Tuesday’s no-blood finale.

Meyers, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound, left-handed hitter who last season hit 18 homers between stops at Single-A West Michigan and Double-A Erie, slammed a three-run, 424-foot bomb that cleared the center-field fence and, for a half-inning, put the Tigers on top, 3-2.

Meyers played at the University of Toledo and in 2021 was a 13th-round pick by the Tigers. His rocket to center, which came against Rays pitcher Jake Odorizzi, had an exit speed of 108.5.

The Tigers and Rays played conventional lineups early Tuesday, then finished with farm-team imports.

Among the Tigers pitchers who were headed to Chicago and who worked Tuesday:

Shelby Miller, four batters, one hit (Harold Ramirez homer); Jason Foley, one batter, ground-out; Tyler Holton, three batters, one hit.

The Tigers got three hits: a single by Riley Greene, a double from Javier Báez, and Meyers’ blast.

Lynn Henning is a freelance writer and retired Detroit News reporter.