Detroit Tigers, Casey Mize torched by Bobby Witt Jr. in 10-3 loss to Kansas City Royals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Detroit Tigers played another game to forget against a red-hot American League Central opponent. Right-hander Casey Mize gave up six runs and couldn't finish the second inning, all while rising superstar Bobby Witt Jr. destroyed the Tigers by crushing two home runs and driving in six runs.

It was a bad night, again.

The Tigers were outplayed by the Witt-led Kansas City Royals for the second game in a row, losing 10-3 on Tuesday in the second of three games in the series at Kauffman Stadium.

After another loss, the Tigers (23-25) have slipped to 8½ games out of first place in the AL Central. The Royals improved to 31-19, just 1½ games behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians.

The AL Central is turning into a two-horse race, with the Tigers in fourth place.

"They're a good team," manager A.J. Hinch said of the Royals. "They put the ball in play, they put up really competitive at-bats, and their rotation has been really good. It's the same team we saw a few weeks ago when we won the series. They're going to be around for the summer, and they're putting together a really competitive game every day. When they string at-bats together like they have, they're really tough. They can do a lot of things that pose a challenge for you."

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Mize allowed six runs on nine hits with two strikeouts across 1⅔ innings, throwing 52 pitches. He didn't walk any batters, but the Royals hammered his fastball and splitter. There were 13 balls in play against Mize, with an average exit velocity of 93.2 mph.

His ERA ballooned from 3.50 to 4.57.

"Really rough day," Mize said. "I was a little bit too much over the plate. They were hitting the ball all over the yard. I'm pretty disappointed. I let the team down today. Obviously, I needed to cover some innings after yesterday the bullpen did a lot of work. Really disappointed with myself for letting us down today."

Witt hit a three-run home run to center field off Mize's splitter in the second inning. The ball traveled 468 feet and landed in the upper level of the fountain.

"Sometimes you just close your eyes, swing hard and hope you hit it," Witt told Bally Sports Kansas City on the field after the game. "I'm just glad it got wet. It was a lot of fun."

Witt also delivered an RBI single to put the Royals ahead, 1-0, in the first inning. He increased the lead to 8-0 in the third inning with a sacrifice fly against left-handed reliever Tyler Holton's cutter, then he pushed the lead to 9-3 in the sixth inning with a solo home run against right-handed reliever Jason Foley's sinker.

It was Foley's first pitch in a game since May 14.

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Witt finished 3-for-4 with one single, two home runs, one sacrifice fly and six RBIs. The 23-year-old is hitting .304 with a .908 OPS in 50 games this season, his third year in the big leagues. In Tuesday's game, he recorded two home runs for the fourth time in his career and six RBIs for the second time in his career, also hitting the longest homer of his career by 25 feet.

The Tigers pulled Mize from his ninth start of the season with two outs in the second inning. He was removed immediately after Adam Frazier hit his 52nd and final pitch — a fastball in the strike zone — for a single to left field.

Holton, who replaced Mize, ended the second inning with a first-pitch slider for a pop out.

"Really bad day for him," Hinch said. "He had a hard time getting into the game, and then as we went through the batting order a couple of times, they were taking really good swings. He threw some chase pitches, they got hit for base hits. He threw some pitches in the strike zone, they got hit hard. It just wasn't his day."

Three runs

Royals right-hander Alec Marsh gave up three runs on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts in six innings, throwing 94 pitches. The Tigers scored all three runs in the fourth inning.

The Tigers cut the deficit to 8-3 with Matt Vierling's two-RBI triple and Colt Keith's RBI single. The triple from Vierling — misplayed by center fielder Kyle Isbel — came after Mark Canha's walk and Wenceel Pérez's single.

"I feel like the wind was a little bit of a factor on fly balls, on both sides," Vierling said. "I feel like it was gusting out a little bit. I feel like it definitely played a little bit of a factor, luckily for me. He definitely got twisted up, and I think the wind had a factor."

Pérez had the Tigers' first hit of the game against Marsh.

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Keith finished 3-for-4 with one RBI and one strikeout.

The 22-year-old rookie is hitting .395 (17-for-43) with three walks and six strikeouts throughout 15 games in the month of May, a stretch of 48 plate appearances.

"He's getting better pitches to hit, and he's getting rewarded for it," Hinch said. "That's the silver lining tonight. Obviously, we had a rough night as a team. He got half our hits. Hopefully, he can carry that into tomorrow."

Keith has raised his season-long batting average from .171 to .230 in the past five games.

A better Joey Wentz

Left-hander Joey Wentz, who allowed five runs in Monday's 8-3 loss to the Royals, covered the seventh and eighth innings in a bounce-back performance.

"He learned a valuable lesson yesterday," Hinch said. "He had a really rough day. It's home for him. He has a lot of family and friends here. It was good to get him back in the game and have him pitch a little bit better."

He surrendered a solo home run to Hunter Renfroe, making it 10-3, in the seventh inning, but he didn't allow any other runs. He avoided his fastball entirely en route to a five-pitch strikeout of Salvador Perez in the eighth inning, one of his three strikeouts.

Wentz threw more curveballs (13) than fastballs (eight) and cutters (six) as part of a 31-pitch outing, a big difference from Monday's pitch mix that included just two curveballs.

"That was nice to see some adjustments," Hinch said. "You can't be predictable against these guys. I thought he did a better job of being a little unpredictable."

Wentz has a 3.86 ERA in 18 innings this season.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers torched by Bobby Witt Jr. in 10-3 loss to K.C. Royals