Mize Is Miserly in 4-1 Win Over Yard Goats

Casey Mize tossed six scoreless innings to lead the Erie SeaWolves to a
4-1 victory over the Hartford Yard Goats at The Dunk last night.

HARTFORD—Players of Casey Mize’s caliber are the reason you go to Eastern League games. Last night, he was everything advertised. The 6-0 right-hander—perhaps the top prospect in the Detroit Tigers’ system—tossed six scoreless innings to lead the Erie SeaWolves to a 4-1 victory over the Hartford Yard Goats before 4,321 fans at Dunkin' Donuts Park Monday night. Vince Fernandez spoiled the shutout with a tape-measure home run deep into the upper deck in right field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. It was his league-leading 12th home run.

Mize, the Tigers first-round draft choice last June, lit up the baseball world when he threw a no-hitter in his Easter League debut on April 29. After he walked the Yard Goat's lead-off hitter Manny Melendez in the first inning and gave up two hits in the second, he settled down, surrendering just one more hit over the next four innings. Mize walked one and struck out six to improve to 3-0. Hartford (24-20) managed to get just one runner as far as third base against Mize. Relievers Drew Carlton and Bryan Garcia struck out five Yard Goats over the last three innings to finish off the pitching gem.

The SeaWolves scored all the runs they needed in the third inning on a two-run homer by Josh Lester into the upper deck down the right field line. Lester picked up another RBI with a fifth inning sacrifice fly. Joze Azocar's run-scoring single later in the inning rounded out the scoring.

A home run and triple by Fernandez and Alan Trejo's two singles highlighted Hartford's offense. Lester had a home run and three RBI, while Isaac Paredes added three hits for Erie (20-20), which snapped a four-game losing streak. 

With the loss, the Yard Goats are now 24-20. Game two of the three-game series is Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m.. Southpaw Ty Culbreth will take the mound for Hartford against RHP Matt Manning for Erie. The game will be broadcast on News Radio 1410AM, on 100.9 FM, in Spanish on 1120AM and on the Internet on newsradio1410.iheart.com and on MiLB.com.

—Staff Reports