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Detroit Tigers' bullpen wastes another sharp Reese Olson outing in 2-1 loss to Braves
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- Detroit Tigers' bullpen wastes another sharp Reese Olson outing in 2-1 loss to Braves
ATLANTA — The Detroit Tigers did a lot of things right.
Right-hander Reese Olson , who grew up 60 miles from Atlanta, pitched six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in a brilliant homecoming performance; Riley Greene played a key role in scratching across a run against left-hander Max Fried with an RBI single in the sixth inning. But those successes weren't enough because the Tigers couldn't hold off the Atlanta Braves in the late innings.
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"We were competitive," said Mark Canha , who finished 2-for-3 with one walk as the designated hitter. "We were doing a lot of good things in that game. It was a well-played game. It just didn't go our way in the end. It's always frustrating. It felt like we had a really good chance to win that one."
The Tigers lost to the Braves, 2-1, in Monday's opener of a three-game series at Truist Park, marking their fifth loss in the last seven games and their eighth loss in the last 11 games. The Braves scored one run in the seventh inning and eighth inning against a pair of relievers.
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Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Reese Olson pitches against the Atlanta Braves during the first inning at Truist Park in Atlanta on Monday, June 17, 2024.
Despite an encouraging start, the Tigers (34-38) squandered their 1-0 advantage in the seventh inning after right-handed reliever Will Vest replaced Olson.
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The Braves tied the game, 1-1, on Forrest Wall 's RBI single off Vest with two strikes and two outs in the seventh inning.
The seventh inning began with Austin Riley 's double down the left-field line. He tagged on a deep fly ball to left field and moved up to third base, but he would've been thrown out advancing had shortstop Ryan Kreidler — the cutoff man on the play — made an accurate throw to the front of the bag.
Although Vest battled back with two outs, he left a slider over the middle of the plate. The missed location allowed Wall to get enough of the sider and drive in Riley from third base.
"You're never out of it until the last out," manager A.J. Hinch said. "He made good pitches. He threw a slider, and Wall, who had missed sliders all night, hit a ground ball through the infield."
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The Braves then took a 2-1 lead — the game-winning run — on Ozzie Albies ' solo home run off right-handed reliever Shelby Miller with two outs in the eighth inning.
Miller threw three fastballs in a row.
"I'll take blame for it," catcher Jake Rogers said.
Albies crushed the third fastball — a 93.6 mph heater located middle-up in the strike zone — for a 407-foot homer to right field.
"From the sixth on, I thought they were kind of sitting soft," Rogers said. "Albies was a little late for the first two heaters, and then I called the third one. As soon as Miller started his windup, he started (his swing) early, and I went, 'Uh oh, here we go.' Sure enough, he put a good swing on it and hit it a long ways. I was confident in what I was thinking he was doing, and obviously, I was wrong."
After Monday's loss, the Tigers' bullpen ranks 26th in MLB with a 4.76 ERA since April 15. (The Tigers' bullpen ranked No. 1 in MLB with a 1.86 ERA from March 28 through April 14.)
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For the Braves, right-handed reliever Joe Jiménez — whom the Tigers traded for Justyn-Henry Malloy in December 2022 — retired all three batters against his old team in the top of the ninth inning, ending the game.
It was Jiménez's first save in two seasons with the Braves, after spending the first six seasons of his career with the Tigers. He owns a 2.89 ERA across 28 innings in 2024.
Riley Greene breaks the ice
Detroit Tigers center fielder Riley Greene throws the ball after fielding a double hit by Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley during the second inning at Truist Park in Atlanta on Monday, June 17, 2024.
The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning.
Three batters reached safely in a row against Fried: Andy Ibáñez (single), Canha (walk) and Greene (single). Greene, a left-handed hitter who typically struggles against lefty pitchers, drilled a two-strike, up-and-in slider into right field, scoring Ibáñez from second base.
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Fried, one of the top lefties in the National League, allowed one run on four hits and three walks with six strikeouts across 5⅓ innings, throwing 103 pitches.
"I actually think we had plenty of opportunities," Hinch said. "Unfortunately, early, it was just with two outs. We would have guys on base, and we would have a two-out at-bat, and he would win it. He was doing to our lineup what Reese was doing to their lineup."
The Tigers had one of those opportunities for runs in the fourth inning when three batters reached safely with two outs in the fourth inning: Greene (walk), Gio Urshela (single) and Malloy (walk). It was all for nothing because Colt Keith — a rookie playing in his 63rd game — grounded out on a first-pitch sinker to strand the bases loaded.
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A bad call
After Greene's RBI single, Fried struck out Urshela for the first out of the sixth inning before exiting, replaced by right-handed reliever Jesse Chavez , who struck out Malloy for the second out.
The runners — Canha and Greene — advanced to third and second base, respectively, because of a balk with Keith at the plate. The balk put two runners in scoring position.
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Keith, a left-handed hitter, battled for eight pitches, but he struck out on a called-third strike, an up-and-in sinker located way inside and not in the strike zone. It was a bad call from home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi to end the threat in the sixth inning.
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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 waste Reese Olson outing in 2-1 loss to Atlanta Braves
