The Tigers took on the Chicago White Sox in the rubber match of their series on a hot, windy, and humid Sunday afternoon in Detroit. Reese “where the heck is my run support” Olson, he of the 3.39 ERA and a staggering 1-8 W-L record (pitcher wins suck) took on ChiSox rookie Jonathan Cannon, who has had decent success so far this season.
Reese looked sharp early, striking out two and getting a web gem highlight play at 3rd from Gio Urshela, who gloved a sharp grounder and threw a missile over to Canha at 1st to retire the pesky Tommy Pham.
The 313’ers struck first with a Matt Vierling hustle triple followed by a no-doubt opposite field HR from Colt Keith. Suddenly baseball was fun again! After a Riley Greene groundout, Canha hit a sharp grounder that the Sox mishandled (for a single, apparently). Wenceel Perez followed up with a deep ground rule double to left center, and within 5 batters the Tigers had hit for a cycle. Urshela battled and ultimately had an RBI groundout. With one on and two out, Akil Baddoo, who has struggled in his latest stint with the team, blasted a bomb to right center for a 5-0 Tigers lead. McKinstry struck out, but the damage was done.
Fun fact, Reese Olson has had 5 total runs scored in his support in his last 5 games, so today’s explosion doubled it in a single inning. Reese responded well, allowing just a single. Another highlight defensive play – this time a running CF catch by Vierling – highlighted the inning.
Of late, we’ve seen the Tigers have one good inning and then roll over the rest of the game. Would that trend continue? NOPE! Three straight singles, the final one an RBI for Keith, chased Cannon. The Sox brought on reliever Jared Shuster to stop the bleeding. He was greeted by Riley Greene in that Earl Weaver special kind of way, with Riley depositing a baseball over the left center wall for a 9-0 Tigers lead. Shuster got out of the inning after a single and a double play, but the damage was done.
Reese quietly induced three groundouts, the final one being another insane play by Urshela at the hot corner. Dude’s got some great defense over there. Tigers also went quietly in the 3rd.
Another ho-hum easy inning for Reese was followed by the Tigers battling. Colt doubled (his bat seems to be very happy of late), Canha and Perez walked, and suddenly the bases were loaded with two outs, chasing Shuster. Sadly, a real nice play on a grounder from Urshela left the baserunners stranded.
Olson worked around only his second baserunner of the day, a single from Nicky Lopez, to get through the 5th. Zack McKinstry finally got in on the offensive explosion and doubled to left center, breaking something like an 0-1000 for Tigers SS lately. However, the bats had cooled off and he was stranded.
Colt Keith came up to bat in the 6th needing just a Triple for a cycle. He didn’t get it, but Greene walked and Perez singled, putting the Tigers in business again. Unfortunately, Urshela continued a poor day at the plate (compared to everyone else, that is) and struck out to end the inning.
Eloy Jimenez lead off the 7th with a single and was doubled to third by Gavin Sheets. After Reese got Vaughn to pop out, his afternoon was over. Will Vest came on, got a strike, but then allowed a Nicky Lopez double to drive in two. His traditional stats look fine and his FIP is excellent, but dude really seems to stink with runners on base. He got a strikeout to end the 7th, but the damage was done. Reese’s final line: 6 1⁄3 IP, 2 ER, only 4 baserunners and 3Ks.
The Tigers got one back in the bottom of the 7th when light-hitting utility guy McKinstry unexpectedly took Chad Kuhl deep for a solo HR.
Holton relieved Vest and worked around a Kreidler error for a quick inning. Then, Colt Keith led off the 8th with another shot at the cycle, but singled instead. Hell of a game for the rookie, regardless. Greene followed with an infield single. Ibanez struck out, then Perez rocketed an RBI double, pushing the lead to 11-2. Kuhl got out of the inning but had thrown an astonishing 99 pitches in relief.
Joey Wentz came on to close out the game in the 9th and got them 1-2-3 for the first series win in…awhile. Also in good news, the Erie Seawolves won the first half of the AA season, qualifying them for the playoffs. Adding on, Jackson Jobe had a solid rehab start, going 3 innings with 4Ks and no baserunners. Looks like he may be set for a return to Erie shortly.
A bit of fun with stats:
First time Tigers have hit for team cycle in first inning since 9/23/06 at KC, where Curtis Granderson homered, Magglio Ordóñez singled, Carlos Guillén doubled and Granderson tripled, all off former Tiger Mark Redman. https://t.co/sKX03hfL7G
— Jason Beck (@beckjason) June 23, 2024