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Reese Olson not sharp enough in Detroit Tigers' third straight loss, 7-4 at Pittsburgh Pirates
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- Reese Olson not sharp enough in Detroit Tigers' third straight loss, 7-4 at Pittsburgh Pirates
PITTSBURGH — It was a day to remember for solar eclipse enthusiasts but a night to forget for the Detroit Tigers .
Reese Olson , a right-hander making his second start of the season, struggled to command his pitches, especially his fastballs. He gave up too many hard hits, walked too many batters and allowed too many runs.
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"I didn't do a very good job of getting ahead in counts," Olson said.
The Tigers lost, 7-4, to the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on Monday in the first of two games in the series. The Tigers (6-4) have lost three games in a row, including back-to-back losses to the Oakland Athletics before traveling to Pittsburgh.
The vibes from the first week of the season have fizzled out.
"It has been a little bit of a grind," said outfielder Matt Vierling , who hustled for an infield single in the eighth inning. "I feel like we've been playing pretty good other than these past three games. You get off to such a good start, and then you have these three games, it's almost like a reality check. You got to get it in gear again. You can't just wait until the end part of the game and win that way, you got to put on runs and put on runs early. We're looking to change things tomorrow."
Tigers pitcher Reese Olson delivers a pitch against the Pirates during the first inning on Monday, April 8, 2024, in Pittsburgh.
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The offense scored just two runs before the eighth inning.
Olson was chased from his start in the fifth inning.
He felt like his mechanics were perfect in the first inning, when he retired all three batters — Oneil Cruz (strikeout), Bryan Reynolds (groundout) and Ke'Bryan Hayes (strikeout) — on 11 pitches.
Suddenly, Olson had a nightmare of second inning and needed 31 pitches to record three outs.
"For whatever reason, the wheels fell off," Olson said. "From then on, it was a battle to get in the zone."
His troubles began with a five-pitch walk to open the second inning and continued with a two hard-hit singles and two infield singles for a three-run swing. The infield singles were soft contact, and one of the hard-hit singles bounced off second base and jumped into center field.
Tigers shortstop Javier Báez makes a catch for an out during the fourth inning of the Tigers' 7-4 loss to the Pirates on Monday, April 8, 2024, in Pittsburgh.
There was some bad luck involved.
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But the Pirates took a 3-1 lead.
"Frustrating to give up weak-contact hits," Olson said, "but the main thing for me was falling behind in counts. When I'm behind in counts, I'm a little more predictable. They took advantage of that."
The Pirates stayed on the aggressive and took advantage of mistakes from Olson, who either couldn't throw strikes or threw pitches in the middle of the zone. He gave up two more runs in the third inning, making it 5-1.
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His fastball and sinker combined for two of his nine whiffs and three of his 17 called strikes. He leaned heavily on his solid slider, but the fastball-sinker combination wasn't sharp.
"They were just hunting pitches they could put in play," Hinch said. "They were trying to take their A-swings, and they did. ... They took advantage of opportunities."
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Olson limited the additional damage to one run in the fifth inning, but he couldn't complete the fifth. He gave up six runs on nine hits and three walks with three strikeouts across 4⅓ innings, throwing 53 of 89 pitches for strikes.
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The Pirates averaged a 92 mph exit velocity on 19 balls in play.
"They did a good job of making contact," Hinch said.
After Olson's departure, Reynolds blasted a solo home run off a middle-in sinker from left-handed reliever Tyler Holton . He punished the ball with a 108.4 mph exit velocity.
Just like that, the Pirates took a 7-2 lead over the Tigers.
Pirates designated hitter Andrew McCutchen uses a spy glass in the dugout against the Tigers during the fourth inning on Monday, April 8, 2024, in Pittsburgh.
Mitch Keller clamps down on Tigers' offense
In the beginning, the Tigers put Olson in the driver's seat with a one-run lead in the first inning.
Parker Meadows , the leadoff hitter, worked a six-pitch walk against right-hander Mitch Keller. He stole second base, and Spencer Torkelson drew a four-pitch walk.
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With two outs, Colt Keith delivered for the Tigers with a line-drive single to left field. Meadows scored from second base for a 1-0 lead, but Torkelson was thrown out trying to advance from first base to third base after the left fielder didn't pick up the ball cleanly.
"Tork said he thought the ball kicked away a little further from Reynolds than it was," Hinch said, "so that was just a misread by him, and then Reynolds made a nice throw to third."
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After that, Keller locked in and carved up his opponents.
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He allowed two runs on five hits and three walks with nine strikeouts across six innings, throwing 60 of 98 pitches for strikes. He generated 12 whiffs (on 35 swings) with five sinkers, two fastballs, two curveballs, two sweepers and one cutter.
The Tigers scored their second run in the fourth inning on Zach McKinstry 's sacrifice fly.
"We swung and missed a lot," Hinch said. "We did the opposite of put pressure on them. They were getting outs without us putting the ball in play, so that's a tough way to live, especially as Keller got more and more comfortable as he settled in."
Wenceel Pérez, an outfield prospect making his MLB debut , lined out to right field in the first plate appearance of his big-league career. He entered as a pinch-hitter for McKinstry in the seventh inning against left-handed reliever Josh Fleming .
Tigers second baseman Colt Keith hits an RBI single against the Pirates during the first inning on Monday, April 8, 2024, in Pittsburgh.
The ball in play from Pérez had a .750 expected batting average, but it was hit directly at the right fielder.
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A little late-inning magic?
The Tigers loaded the bases in the eighth inning: Riley Greene (fielding error), Mark Canha (walk) and Keith (infield single). Another infield single, this time from Vierling, cut the Tigers' deficit to 7-3.
That brought Javier Báez to the plate with one out and the bases loaded in the eighth.
The Pirates turned to left-handed reliever Aroldis Chapman .
He struck out Báez swinging with a 100.9 mph sinker, and he struck out Pérez looking with a 101.2 mph sinker. Both pitches were painted on the corners of the strike zone.
Chapman threw all seven pitches for strikes.
The Tigers trimmed the margin to 7-4 in the ninth inning on Greene's RBI double off the wall in left field.
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"We're playing hard," Hinch said. "I know when you don't hit early, there's a little lull, and it's tough sometimes. We'll figure it out. Our guys will warm up soon enough. We played a better game today than we have, but it still wasn't good enough. Quick turnaround tomorrow with a day game. We'll be ready."
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold .
Next up: Pirates
Matchup: Tigers (6-4) at Pittsburgh (9-2), series finale.
First pitch: 12:35 p.m. Tuesday; PNC Park, Pittsburgh.
TV/radio: Bally Sports Detroit; WXYT-FM (97.1).
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Probable pitchers: Tigers — RHP Casey Mize (0-0, 6.23 ERA); Pirates — LHP Martin Perez (1.0, 2.45 ERA).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Reese Olson not sharp enough in Detroit Tigers' third straight loss
