They had to wait an extra 18 hours or so, but the Detroit Tigers took the series-opening game for an eighth straight time.
The Tigers rode an early lead and a solid start from Casey Mize to a 4-3 win in the series opener against the Baltimore Orioles, in Game 1 of a split doubleheader after Friday’s rainout. It is the eighth straight series in which the Tigers (16-10) have won the first game, dating back to the season’s second series against the Seattle Mariners.
“The first game of the series is always important,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “But to win in the way we did both ways. I felt like our at-bats were pretty good early, probably could have pushed across a couple more, but had to hold them off at the end. It felt like we were in trouble a lot of innings and we did hold them off.”
The Tigers prolonged their at-bats against Baltimore starter Brandon Young to build an early two-run lead and picked up insurance runs on an RBI single from Jace Jung and a solo home run from Spencer Torkelson. The first baseman drove his eighth home run of the season the opposite way for a 387-foot home run to right-center field.
“Good day for him on both sides, made key plays,” Hinch said.
The Tigers’ bullpen held on despite two earned runs against Tyler Holton in the seventh and eighth innings, with Will Vest picking up his third save of the year.
The Tigers and Orioles play again at 6:10 p.m. to complete the split doubleheader.
Mize dances around damage
Mize scattered eight hits with one run allowed across 5⅓ innings. He threw 87 pitches, including 59 for strikes, and struck out five batters. The only run he allowed came on a solo home run from Ryan O’Hearn, who recorded three hits in three at-bats against Mize.
“It’s frustrating when that happens,” Mize said. “It was a lot of singles.”
Mize stranded two runners in the second and fourth innings and produced clean innings in the third and fifth. He gave up two singles to lead off the sixth inning and exited after Torkelson threw out the lead runner at home plate on a fielder’s choice.
Mize picked up 12 misses on 44 swings from the Orioles, including six with his splitter. Mize’s first two strikeouts came on his slurve, followed by two strikeouts from his splitter and one from his fastball.
“You need a weapon that is going to look like a fastball, but all of a sudden, dart down,” Hinch said of Mize’s splitter. “And he’s throwing it 88-91 mph. It just leaves the hitter less and less recognition time.”
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Brenan Hanifee replaced him in the sixth and stranded both runners, lowering Mize’s season ERA to 2.12 through five starts.
The Orioles scored one run in the seventh off Holton, who gave up a walk and two singles with two outs, followed by a solo home run from Ramón Urías in the eighth.
Patience at the plate
Orioles starting pitcher Brandon Young crossed 50 pitches thrown before getting out of the bottom of the second inning.
The Tigers opened the game with long at-bats and parlayed the extra pitches into baserunners and, eventually, an early lead. After threatening with a Zach McKinstry walk followed by a Riley Greene double in the first inning, the Tigers struck in the second inning.
Jace Jung led off with a walk and was replaced on the base paths by Dillon Dingler following a fielder’s choice. Trey Sweeney reached on another walk, setting up an RBI double from Javier Báez to open the scoring. Kerry Carpenter loaded the bases with another walk before Gleyber Torres drove in a second run on a sacrifice fly. McKinstry drew the fourth walk of the inning before Greene struck out to end the threat.
Jung drives in run with first hit of 2025
Jung, who the Tigers called up from Triple-A Toledo earlier in the week, drove in the Tigers’ third run with his first major league hit of 2025. McKinstry reached on a single to lead off the fifth inning, and moved to scoring position on a fielder’s choice.
With two outs, Jung turned a middle-middle changeup from Bryan Baker back up the middle to plate McKinstry and push the Tigers’ cushion back to two runs.
Riley Greene lays out in field
Greene ran into the left field wall twice while making catches to rob Baltimore of extra-base hits.
In the second inning, Jackson Holliday drove a flyball deep to the opposite field, forcing Greene to haul in the ball at the end of the warning track while hitting the fence.
In the seventh inning, Ramón Laureano hit what looked like a home run, but Greene elevated and hauled in the catch while crashing into the fence. He stayed on the ground for a second after hitting the wall, but remained in the game.
“He has a great feel for where he is,” Hinch said. “He can get up over the fence and he seems to make these great plays when it doesn’t seem like the play is possible. That’s because he sells out from the jump.”
Jared Ramsey covers sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jramsey@freepress.com; Follow Jared on X or Bluesky.
