The Detroit Tigers have won only one of their last six series. That could change when they host the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday.
After losing the series opener on Thursday, they’ve collected victories the last two games. They followed up Friday’s 6-2 win with a 2-1 squeaker on Saturday.
Reese Olson got just enough run support to collect his first win of the season. Olson gave up just one unearned run in 6 1/3 innings.
Kerry Carpenter’s two-run homer in the first inning was all the Tigers needed to win their second straight after a five-game slide. Carpenter also blasted a two-run homer on Friday.
On Sunday, right-hander Casey Mize (1-3, 4.57 ERA) will try to bounce back from his worst outing of the season. Mize was rocked for six runs and nine hits while getting just five outs at Kansas City on Tuesday.
“Obviously, just a rough day,” he said. “I let the team down (Tuesday). I would’ve liked to have covered some innings.”
Mize had given up two runs on two hits in six innings in his previous start against Miami.
“He had a hard time getting into the game and as we went through the batting order a couple of times, they were taking really good swings at him,” manager A.J. Hinch said of Mize’s outing against the Royals. “He threw some chase pitches that got hit for singles and he threw some pitches in the strike zone that got hit hard. It just wasn’t his day.”
Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (2-4, 2.64) will start the series finale for Toronto.
He is 0-3 with two no-decisions in his last five starts, but he’s coming off a quality outing. He gave up three runs (two earned) and five hits in six innings against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.
Run support has also been an issue. The Blue Jays have been limited to a total of nine runs in those five outings and were blanked in his last start.
Kikuchi is 1-1 with a 4.71 ERA in four career starts against Detroit. Mize will be facing Toronto for the first time.
Toronto’s inconsistent production has been stark throughout the week. The Blue Jays have scored nine runs in each of their last three wins. They’ve scored a total of three runs in their last three losses.
“Really, it comes down to getting big hits,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “It comes down to getting hits with guys on, it comes down to hitting home runs. Stuff we’ve been talking about all year. We have a lot of guys that can hit the ball hard, and there’s a lot of guys who can put the ball in play. What we are working on is to try to put the ball in play harder and more consistently.”
On Saturday, the Blue Jays were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
“That’s been the story of our season,” Schneider said. “We’ve got to get hits there, no matter who it is, no matter what part of the order you’re at. You’ve got to come through and get those hits. Right now, we’re not doing that.”
–Field Level Media