Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch has now weighed in on umpire John Tumpane ordering Casey Mize to switch gloves on Tuesday night against the Royals.
A.J. Hinch on the Casey Mize-John Tumpane glove color drama:
"Perception means a lot, and on a day that the foreign substance conversation was at its highest, we have a glove coming out of the game. That’s completely unfair to Casey, and there was no reason for it." pic.twitter.com/X5nGLcNHNf
— Cody Stavenhagen (@CodyStavenhagen) June 16, 2021
ORIGINAL COMMENTS FROM CASEY MIZE:
Casey Mize did not have his best stuff on Tuesday night but he had enough to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 4-3 win over the Kansas City Royals.
Mize pitched into the seventh inning, scattering seven hits and walking just one but that was not what he was talking about after the game was over.
Instead, Mize was busy ripping umpire John Tumpane for making him switch his glove between the first and second inning. He ended up using Kyle Funkhouser‘s glove for the remainder of the game.
From Detroit News:
“He said the gray color was too light,” Mize said, shaking his head.
“He said the gray color was too light. I thought it was pretty shitty, a pretty shitty thing to do. I assume everyone thinks I was using sticky stuff now when I was not. I thought the timing of it was pretty shitty.”
“Either the umpires need to get on the same page — I’ve made 12 starts with that glove — or John Tumpane needs to have some feel and just let me pitch with the glove the other team didn’t even complain about.”
“I think I’m in a situation now where I assume everyone thinks I was using sticky, which in reality is not the situation at all,” Mize said. “Starting Monday they’re going to check, so it wouldn’t look too suspicious then. But obviously today it looks very suspicious with the memo coming out and I come out in the second inning with a completely different colored glove.”
