The Detroit Tigers beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-0 at Comerica Park on Wednesday night, and starter Casey Mize left after four innings with a groin injury.
The victory kept Detroit from taking over the American League cellar and came after manager AJ Hinch’s club built an early lead and the bullpen preserved the shutout once Mize left the game. With the win the Tigers can capture their first series since the beginning of May if they take Thursday’s afternoon game; Detroit’s last series victory was two of three against the Texas Rangers at home in early May.
The three-game set closes at 1:10 p.m. ET Thursday at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. The finale will be shown on Detroit SportsNet and MLB.TV and heard on the Tigers Radio Network.
Thursday’s pitching matchup sharpens what is at stake: Jack Flaherty is scheduled to start for Detroit, while Grayson Rodriguez will take the hill for the Angels. Flaherty has had a rough May — a 6.65 ERA and a 4.09 FIP across five games and 21 2/3 innings this month — and is 0-6 with a 5.94 ERA for the season. He last faced the Angels on May 3 last year and allowed five runs, four earned, in 5 2/3 innings.
Rodriguez is making only his third start of the season and is 1-1 with a 10.61 ERA, but he carries a particular history against Detroit: in April 2023, when he was with the Baltimore Orioles, Rodriguez faced the Tigers twice and shut them out over 10 total innings. The numbers create an awkward balance for both clubs — Flaherty’s recent slide against a team he’s struggled with in the past, and Rodriguez’s poor 2026 results despite his previous dominance of Detroit.
Mize’s exit after four innings adds another layer of consequence for Thursday. The groin injury removed a starter who had been asked to cover innings, putting more emphasis on Flaherty’s work and the bullpen’s durability in the finale; Detroit’s ability to clinch the series now leans on a rotation that has shown cracks this month.
The single most consequential question heading into the series finale is simple and immediate: can Jack Flaherty stop the slide long enough to give Detroit its first series win since early May, or will Grayson Rodriguez’s past success against the Tigers and the uncertainty around Casey Mize’s groin combine to leave Detroit still searching for series momentum?
