Photo by AP/News Aaron K. Murray
BY JERRY BEACH
NEW YORK (AP) — Colt Keith hit an RBI double in the 11th inning Thursday, sparking the Detroit Tigers to a 6-3 comeback win that extended their best start since 2015 and sent the New York Mets to their worst start since 2005.
Gio Urshela added a two-out, two-run single for the Tigers (5-0), who are the last unbeaten team in baseball and will seek to match the 2015 team’s 6-0 start in the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader.
“We feel good about where we’re at,” said Tigers pitcher Casey Mize, who started the opener in his first professional game since Apr. 14, 2022. “We feel good about our team. We have for a few weeks going back into spring training. Obviously, there’s things we need to improve upon and build upon. But we’ve had a really good start.”
The Mets’ Jose Buttó was scheduled to start the second game against fellow right-hander Matt Manning. Both pitchers were recalled earlier Thursday for the doubleheader, which was necessitated by rainouts Tuesday and Wednesday night.
The Mets (0-5) haven’t opened 0-6 since 1963 — their second season.
“Some teams go on a losing skid in the middle of the year,” Mets starter Adrian Houser said, “Right now we’re just starting off on the wrong foot. We’re not playing terrible. There’s some things we can do better, but it’s part of baseball. It’s part of the journey. It’s going to be a roller coaster.”
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Shelby Miller (2-0) tossed two scoreless innings for the Tigers, who earned three one-run wins over the Chicago White Sox before posting back-to-back extra-inning wins over the Mets.
Michael Tonkin (0-2) took the loss for the second straight game for New York.
The Mets took a 3-0 lead via Francisco Alvarez’s two-run double in the third and Brett Baty’s run-scoring single in the fifth. New York was 2-for-28 with two walks with runners on base in between Tyrone Taylor’s RBI single on Sunday and Alvarez’s double.
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“I thought we had better at-bats, especially early in the game,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We created some traffic.”
Andy Ibañez lofted a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the sixth inning for the Tigers before Urshela scored on a wild pitch in the seventh and Riley Greene homered in the eighth.
Mize, who had Tommy John surgery and back surgery in 2022, gave up three runs in 4 1/3 innings.
“Felt a lot out there — just excitement and just pride and joy,” Mize said. “The box score wasn’t great, but obviously just super proud of the work I put in and the people who helped me get back and was super happy to be back and competing in the big leagues with my team.”
Houser, making his Mets debut after he was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers on Dec. 20, allowed one run in five-plus innings.
COLD AS DECEMBER
The first-pitch temperature was 43 degrees — the coldest at Citi Field since April 17, 2018. The crowd roared when the sun poked out from behind the clouds during Starling Marte’s at-bat in the bottom of the fifth.
EARLY TWINBILL
The doubleheader was the earliest, by date, in Mets history and the second-earliest for the Tigers, who played a twinbill against Pittsburgh on April 1, 2018.
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TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: DH J.D. Martinez, who is getting into baseball shape in Florida after signing with New York on March 23, is expected to report to a minor league affiliate as early as Friday.
UP NEXT
Tigers: Finally head to Detroit for the home opener Friday, when LHP Tarik Skubal (1-0, 0.00 ERA) is scheduled to start against the Oakland Athletics and LHP JP Sears (0-1, 12.27). Skubal will be pitching on eight days’ rest.
Mets: Begin their first road trip Friday. LHP Jose Quintana (0-1, 3.86 ERA) opens a three-game series against the Reds, who will counter with RHP Hunter Greene (0-0, 3.86).
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
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