The Tigers decided to at least insert some drama into this loss. They seized an early lead and the bullpen gave it away, squandering another good Reese Olson start. The Angels walked it off in the tenth inning, and the Tigers have now lost six of their last seven series.
Things got off to a better start after two dispiriting efforts against the Angels, but Tigers’ fans were still left with a bad taste in their mouth in the first inning. That would remain a theme in this one until the bitter end.
The Tigers loaded the bases against back end starter Griffin Canning in the first inning. Wenceel Pérez led off with a single to center field. Riley Greene reached on an error by Angels’ shortstop Zach Neto. Matt Vierling then drilled another comebacker off a pitcher and reached on the play.
No outs. Bases loaded. This was more like it. Then we got a Mark Canha pop out, a Colt Keith ground out that scored Pérez and forced Vierling, and Gio Urshela meekly grounded out to end the inning. 1-0 Tigers, and yet somehow it still felt pretty bad.
Olson gave up a leadoff single, but got the next three in a row including a strikeout of Miguel Sano. There were some hard hit balls in the inning, however. One hoped that Olson got away with a few bad pitches and would then settle in. That’s mostly how it went.
Zach McKinstry tried to bunt his way on to open the second. He was ruled safe, but a replay overturned the call and the Tigers went in order with Malloy and Rogers striking out.
Willie Calhoun opened the bottom of the second with a solid line drive to left center that Riley Greene cut off in the gap. A poor relay from Greene and McKinstry allowed Calhoun to take second base easily where he should’ve been out at second, and Logan O’Hoppe slapped a single up the middle to move Calhoun to third.
Olson carved up Neto for the first out. Three straight nasty sliders sent Mickey Moniak back to the dugout with nothing but a cool breeze to show for a pair of swings. Jo Adell was next, and again Olson recognized the Angels were swinging early and often and got Adell to chase and then stuck a fastball right at the bottom of the zone for strike three. Crisis averted. Really nice job from Olson.
Riley Greene walked with one out in the third, but routine fly outs from Vierling and Canha turned the inning back over to the Angels.
Olson quickly dug his own hole this time, walking Nolan Schanuel to lead off. A hot grounder skipped off Olson, and then off the second base umpire, magically sneaking its way into center field off the bat of Luis Rengifo for a single. Rengifo promptly stole second with the Tigers refusing to throw through. Olson missed just outside twice to Taylor Ward and walked him to load the bases with no outs.
Olson again had to dig in under pressure. He dusted Sano with a tough sinker tailing in on him at the bottom of the zone. He got ahead of Calhoun, but then bounced a slider to the backstop to wild pitch in the first run. That also took away all the force plays on the bases. A soft bouncer to first from Calhoun was an out, but Canha never had a chance to go home with it and Rengifo scored. Olson blew away O’Hoppe to strand the final runner, but it was 2-1 Angels.
Colt Keith led off the fourth with a single through the right side, and after fouling a ball off his leg, Gio Urshela broke an 0-for-28 stretch with a single. Zach McKinstry grounded into a force of Urshela at second that would’ve been a double play ball if Rengifo hadn’t bobbled it, but Keith scored to tie the game 2-2.
Justyn-Henry Malloy spanked a hard grounder through the right side and behind McKinstry for a single that got the runner to third. Jake Rogers got a curveball on the outer edge and flicked a solid fly ball to right field to Adell as McKinstry tagged and scored. 3-2 Tigers. Wenceel Pérez lined out to Neto to end the top of the inning.
Buoyed by a decent break and some run support, Reese Olson spun a quick 1-2-3 inning and we were on to the fifth. Canning carved up Greene and Vierling to start off. Note that Canning has the third worst K-rate of any qualified starter in the major leagues. Mark Canha drew a walk, but Keith fouled off a first pitch fastball down the middle and eventually flew out to center field.
Schanuel has continued to be quite a pain throughout this series, and he led off the bottom of the fifth with a fly ball to right that bounded into the seats for an automatic double. Rengifo put up a tough battle but lifted a shallow fly out to left field. Olson got a pair of ground outs to strand Schanuel.
With two outs in the top of the sixth, Malloy was clipped by a fastball and Jake Rogers got a first pitch right at his head and barely dodged it. The next pitch was a fastball and Jake smoked it 443 feet into the rocks beyond the left center field wall. Okay!! 5-2 Tigers.
Reese Olson, almost certainly in his last inning, made the cardinal error late in a start, or anytime, by walking the leadoff hitter Calhoun. However, Olson really did pitch well in this one, and he struck out O’Hoppe and got Neto to fly out. At 97 pitches, in a 2-2 count against Mickey Moniak, Olson dropped a gorgeous changeup right on the outer edge for the whiff. Big time stuff from the baby faced assassin.
Olson’s ninth strikeout gave him a line of: 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 9 K. He pitched a little better than the line, although his own wild pitch dinged him up a bit. Overall a very good start and Olson continues to show a good deal of toughness on the mound. You can book him as a solid future piece of the rotation.
RHP Hans Crouse took over in the seventh and he quickly dispatched Riley Greene and Matt Vierling swinging, and wrapped up the inning quickly. Not a very good night for Riley in particular to this point.
This was the Tigers of course, so things wouldn’t be easy. Beau Brieske took over with a bit of a difficult assignment against Jo Adell and the lefties atop the Angels order. It began poorly, with a walk of Adell. Brieske missed the mark with his first two pitches to leadoff man Schanuel and things were tense, but a strike call on the extreme outer edge got Brieske back in the count and Schanuel flew out sharply to Vierling in center field.
Brieske still wasn’t sharp and a changeup to Rengifo got lined into left center field. For the second time in the game Greene struggled to get the ball in, but this time it didn’t cost them a base. Adell was taking third either way. Taylor Ward stepped to the dish and smoked a sinker into the left field corner for a two-run double. 5-4 Tigers.
Brieske hadn’t given up a run since June 11, but he was really struggling here. He bounced back with a routine fly ball to left off the ball of Miguel Sano, but that was it for the right-hander as Tyler Holton took over against Willie Calhoun with two outs and Ward on second base. Kevin Pillar was called on to pinch-hit and Holton got him to fly out to end the inning.
Carson Fulmer walked Urshela with one out in the top of the eighth, but otherwise had no trouble with the Tigers.
So, Will Vest then took over from Brieske and the first pitch he threw was a slider down in the zone that O’Hoppe lined over the left field wall to tie the game.
I was looking through the bullpen’s individual numbers last night, and was again surprised to see a litany of solid numbers. The Tigers’ bullpen is full of average relievers, but there’s just no one who stands out. Vest looks the best of the bunch by most measures, but none of them have been consistently effective since the early weeks of the season. Between the lack of true shutdown relievers in high leverage scenarios, and rarely having much of a lead to work with, the pen is probably not as bad as it feels, but it’s entirely mediocre.
Anyway, Vest retired the next three in order, though Adell made a bid to the warning track in right field.
So what I was asking myself now, was would any Tigers hitter other than maybe Greene come through for this team so badly in need of a victory? Greene was never going to get much to hit in the top of the ninth. Guess the answer.
Carlos Estévez, a large right-hander took over for the Angels. Wenceel Pérez did his part, coming up with a solid single to right field with one out. Greene actually got a first pitch fastball on the inner edge, but grounded into a force of Pérez at second, and it was up to Vierling. And then it wasn’t, as Riley Greene tried to steal second with Vierling in a 2-2 count. The throw sailed well to the first base side and Greene was out only by an outrageously good leaping tag by second baseman Luis Guillorme. You have got to be kidding us.
Jason Foley took over and managed to get Schanuel on a first pitch pop out as the first baseman expected a sinker and got a slider down instead. Good pitch call. Rengifo was next, and Foley started him off with a changeup and got a whiff. A fastball up and in almost hit the left-handed hitter, and he grounded the next pitch to McKinstry at shortstop.
Foley needed one more and he started Ward off with a first pitch slider for a strike as well, then pounded a swingback sinker in there for strike two. Another heater went wide, as did a smart slider just off the plate away from the right-handed hitter. A 97 mph sinker at the top of the zone froze Ward for strike three, and we were on to the 10th.
The problem, among many other problems, for the Tigers here was that the Angels have RHP Ben Joyce, who is very tough. With Greene starting on second Vierling saw plenty of high-90’s cheddar and then got blown away by 102 mph down the gut.
Canha got the same treatment, seeing 102-103 repeatedly. Canha did a nice job fighting off a few with two strikes, and just held up on a slider away before grounding out up the middle. That got Greene to third with two outs, with Colt Keith at the dish. Keith got a fastball away and served it off the end of the bat for a one-hop ground out to Neto.
This was gonna sting.
Foley stayed in the game facing Guillorme, with Ward starting on second base in the bottom half. Guillorme bunted the run over, the Tigers gathered to talk about the defense and how to pitch Pillar, but the veteran turned on a first pitch sinker and drilled it into the left field corner for a walkoff knock.
Reese Olson? Good. The Tigers? In shambles.
The Tigers have now lost six of their last seven series, and will have to back Casey Mize to victory on Sunday to avoid getting swept for the second time in June.