Reese Olson pitched well but the bullpen and defense couldn’t hold a late lead.
Well, things were looking pretty good until the late innings, and that has generally spelled success for the Tigers this year. However, a recent stretch of rough outings from the bullpen and too many mistakes on the field from a team that isn’t going to give itself many large margins for error all combined to lose this one in 10 innings. The Tigers will come home on Friday after a 1-5 road swing that felt like a cold splash of reality to the face.
The game didn’t start off an more auspiciously than it ended. RHP Tanner Bibee retired the first six Tigers he saw, while Reese Olson struggled with his command a bit. The bottom of the second started with Olson walking Josh Naylor, and then David Fry pulled a ground ball to third and Andy Ibáñez couldn’t handle the throw from Zach McKinstry at second base. Olson walked Will Brennan, and suddenly he was in a real tight spot with no outs and the bases loaded.
Olson managed to punch out Gabriel Arias, but Austin Hedges came up with a two-run single through the left side, and the Guardians led 2-0. To his credit, Olson responded by slamming the door and settling into another very good outing overall.
It didn’t take too long before the Tigers got back into the game offensively as well. In the top of the fourth, Ibáñez led off with a single, and after Wenceel Pêrez struck out, Kerry Carpenter smoked a double that nearly cleared the right field fence. Colt Keith ripped a on-hopper through the right side of the infield, and the game was all tied up.
The Tigers were really grinding out the at-bats against Bibee at this point and his pitch count spiralled during this long inning. He hit Spencer Torkelson on the right arm, and Zach McKinstry followed with a double to right that scored Keith and got Torkelson to third. Javier Báez lifted a deep fly ball to right field, and Torkelson was able to tag and score to make it 4-2 Tigers.
However, as so often happens, after that outburst of quality at-bats and swings, the offense went right back in their shell and couldn’t separate them any further from the Guardians.
Lefty San Hentges took over in the fifth and collected five outs Nick Sandlin took over with two outs in the sixth. Torkelson greeted Sandlin with a sharp single, but that went nowhere.
Meanwhile, Olson retired the last 14 batters he faced, going six innings with runs, one earned, allowed and four strikeouts. He allowed only one hit in the outing and continues to track like a number two starter. More proof will be required but we’re closing in on a full year of really good performances from Reese Olson.
Presumably trying to give him a lower stress outing to help get back on track, and knowing that the left-handed bats are more dangerous for the Guardians, A.J. Hinch sent Jason Foley out for the first two outs of the seventh. He only allowed a single, but all three hitters he faced squared the ball up pretty well. Hinch turned to Joey Wentz for the final out of the inning.
A two-out double Kerry Carpenter in the top of the eighth went nowhere, and Bryan Rocchio led off the bottom half against Wentz with a single. He then stole second, and Jake Rogers throw was wild, allowing Rocchio to take third base. A ground out would score him before the inning ended, and the Tigers held a slim 4-3 lead entering the ninth inning.
The Tigers really needed an insurance run. Dealing with Emmanuel Clase in an extra innings scenario is no good at all. They couldn’t get it done, as Torkelson popped out, McKinstry grounded out, and Báez lined out against Hunter Gaddis.
With three left-handed hitters coming up the bottom half, Andrew Chafin got the save opportunity, but instead allowed a David Fry solo shot that flew a grand total of 334 feet in the right field corner.
You know how this ends. Hinch pinch-hit Ryan Vilade for Jake Rogers, inserting Carson Kelly behind the plate. It didn’t help, as Clase dominated as usual. Having an elite reliever in this scenarios explains a decent amount of the Guardians success in recent years.
Alex Lange took the 10th, and Tyler Freeman immediately dropped down a bunt to move Ramon Laureano to third. The Tigers collapsed in on the infield with no chance of throwing out a tagging runner on even a shallow fly ball. Instead, Rocchio smoked a drive into center field for the walk off victory.
The Tigers will have an off day on Thursday, before welcoming in the scuffling Houston Astros on Friday.