Casey Mize returned from the Injured List, and the Tigers game still slipped away in Houston, 4-2. He made his tenth start of the season after a late-May stint on the shelf with a right adductor strain in the groin, then left after the second out in the fifth inning.
Houston Builds Early
Jeremy Peña opened the scoring with his fourth home run of the year, a two-out shot in the third inning that put the Astros ahead 1-0. Peter Lambert then kept the Tigers quiet through five innings, allowing only a Dillon Dingler single while Houston kept stacking outs and pressure.
That steady start turned into a larger gap in the fifth inning. Houston pushed the lead to 2-0 with a single, a productive groundout and a double, and Mize walked off after the second out with a runner on second.
Mize Leaves After Fifth
The Tigers handed the ball to Kyle Finnegan, and Isaac Paredes greeted him with an RBI double that made it 3-0. Houston stretched it to 4-0 in the sixth inning with a double, two walks and a single, a run of traffic that kept the Tigers from ever getting back to level on one swing.
Mize’s return carried the same complication that has followed him for much of the season. He had also spent a couple of weeks on the Injured List a month earlier for the same affliction, and this outing ended before he could finish the fifth inning.
Carpenter And McGonigle Respond
Kerry Carpenter finally gave the Tigers a run back with a solo home run in the seventh inning, and Kevin McGonigle added another in the ninth with a solo shot off Josh Hader. Hader finished the game for the Astros and shut down the Tigers after that, preserving the 4-2 finish.
The loss gave the Tigers a second close defeat in a row and cost them the series after they blew a golden opportunity for a series victory on Tuesday night. For Mize, the outing showed why his return mattered and why the next stretch will be watched closely: he was back, but he was not able to get through five innings before the Tigers were left trying to catch up.
