For most of his big-league debut, former first overall pick Casey Mize lived up to the hype. Then he hit a wall in the fifth.
But in terms of first impressions, this was a good one by the top right-handed pitching prospect in baseball.
Mize racked up seven strikeouts and kept the White Sox off balance for the better part of five innings Wednesday night. He wound up allowing three runs on seven hits -- and no walks -- over 4 1/3 innings.
He left with the game tied at 3.
Seven strikeouts and no walks in his MLB debut.Future is looking bright for @Casey_Mize! #DetroitRoots pic.twitter.com/3Su1eWA6wt
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers)
August 20, 2020 The No. 1 pick in 2018, Mize wasted no time getting acclimated to the bigs. He got Tim Anderson to fly out to lead off the first, then struck out Yoan Moncada with his trademark splitter. After a Jose Abreu single, Mize struck out Eloy Jimenez on a slider.
Yup, that's filthy.Congrats on the first Major League strikeout, @Casey_Mize! #DetroitRoots pic.twitter.com/lN6tEhKIIl
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers)
August 20, 2020 Veteran slugger Edwin Encarnacion welcomed Mize to the show to lead off the second, taking him deep to left. Nomar Mazara followed with a double. But Mize responded by retiring the next six batters in a row, including a strikeout of Anderson.
The Tigers rallied to take a 3-1 lead in the fifth, and Mize came back out for the bottom half of the inning. This is when he seemed to succumb to fatigue. His splitter began hanging in the zone, and the White Sox knocked him out with two singles sandwiched around a double.
Still, this was an encouraging debut, one that was worth the wait.
Mize threw 73 pitches, with 12 swinging strikes.
