Casey Mize becomes first pitcher in Tigers history to post this statistical anomaly

The Tigers' first game against the Phillies on Monday was full of little oddities. There was a strange symmetry to the proceedings.

The Tigers fell victim to a triple play because of an egregious baserunning error by Zach McKinstry, who was also the only runner to cross the plate all game for Detroit. Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm were responsible for driving in all eight of Philly's runs on the day on a double and a homer apiece.

Casey Mize was the starter on the mound for the Tigers, and there was nothing normal about his outing, either. He seemed to deal exclusively in extremes over his 4 1/3 innings, during which time he gave up a grand total of nine hits. Only four of those hits turned into runs (three earned). In between, Mize gave up zero walks and struck out 10 batters, a career high.

It was a mind-boggling start to watch, so it's no surprise that he also made Tigers history with it. Per Jason Beck of MLB.com, Mize became the first pitcher to allow zero walks while striking out more than 10 batters and giving up nine or more hits in under five innings since ... Aaron Nola did it almost exactly three years ago. Mize also the first Tiger to ever do it.

Casey Mize's 4 1/3 inning, 0 BB, 9 H, 10 K outing for Detroit is a Tigers first

Those nine hits considered, it's good that Mize also brought his swing-and-miss stuff to balance what was clearly eminently hittable (by Harper and Bohm, at least). He was mixing things up a lot too, with an almost equal amount of strikeouts coming off the fastball, splitter, and slider. Unfortunately, it was the fastball and slider that Harper and Bohm got ahold of to put the Phillies up by four in the first inning.

Mize was eventually relieved after striking out Nick Castellanos for his 10th K of the day, with none other than Harper and Bohm already on base after a double and a single. Tyler Holton got out of the jam with a Bryson Stott lineout and Brandon Marsh strikeout.

He said after the game: "I've told you guys for a long time and it wasn't because I wasn't striking guys out that the thing I value most is runs and innings. And that is still true today when I had a career-high strikeout game but only go four-plus innings and give up four. The scoreboard wasn't good."

Mize was clearly frustrated with his longevity and the topsy-turviness of his line by the time he was pulled, but there really is no explanation for the utter weirdness of the outing. Though, as bizarre as it was, the lineup's failure to provide run support is somewhat to blame, as the four runs Mize allowed weren't insurmountable. Hopefully they'll be able to make it up to him with a win on Tuesday night.