DETROIT -- The Tigers have flipped their script from last year¡¯s pitching chaos to this year¡¯s stacked rotation, which entered Wednesday with MLB¡¯s third-lowest ERA. Reese Olson might be the quietest member of the bunch, literally and figuratively. He also might be the key.
He has neither the resume of AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal or World Series champion Jack Flaherty, nor the prospect pedigree of former first-round picks and top prospects Jackson Jobe or Casey Mize. But when he¡¯s in the zone, he can silence formidable lineups and send standout hitters back to the dugout shaking their heads.
¡°That guy,¡± Padres All-Star Manny Machado said, ¡°was dealing today.¡±
A scoreless outing over 7 1/3 innings on two hits with a walk and seven strikeouts will get that reaction, especially when Olson needed just 85 pitches to do it.
¡°That was an incredible performance by Reese,¡± Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said after Wednesday¡¯s 6-0 win at Comerica Park to take two of three from a team that entered the day tied for MLB¡¯s best record.
Olson has shown this before. As a rookie in 2023, he tossed six innings of one-run ball in front of a hostile crowd at Dodger Stadium. Last May, he tossed eight scoreless innings with six strikeouts against the Marlins at Comerica Park. A month later, he tossed six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in Atlanta. He started one game of last year¡¯s AL Division Series against Cleveland, and provided bulk work in another, combining for nine innings of two-run ball with eight strikeouts.
The Tigers wanted competition for rotation spots in Spring Training to push pitchers, but Olson¡¯s spot was set alongside Skubal and Flaherty. He worked in camp on pounding the strike zone and polishing his changeup. Both have been keys for him over his last two starts, in which he has delivered 12 1/3 scoreless innings on just six hits against teams that made last year¡¯s postseason.
¡°My first few outings hadn¡¯t been great, hadn¡¯t been too efficient,¡± Olson said. ¡°It¡¯s what we¡¯ve been working on these past few weeks, trying to get back on track.¡±
Olson threw first-pitch strikes to each of his first nine batters, and 22 of 26 overall. The Padres took most of them, but still had the aggression of a team ready to get back to San Diego at the end of a week-long road trip. Olson didn¡¯t let up.
¡°From the get-go, they were going to be very aggressive,¡± Hinch said. ¡°So he had to not only throw strikes but control contact. When they showed an aggressive approach, he didn¡¯t back down and start nibbling and trying to be too perfect. He just kept challenging them with strikes.
¡°It just looked like he was in complete control, because he was getting quick outs, he was getting to leverage [counts], he was throwing first-pitch strikes, everything that we laid out. It was a perfect day for him.¡±
Between 10 ground-ball outs and seven strikeouts, Olson allowed just six balls out of the infield -- two to shortstop-turned-center fielder Javier Báez, who covered 116 feet to track down Tirso Ornelas¡¯ eighth-inning drive to the warning track. San Diego produced solid contact, averaging 94.1 miles per hour in exit velocity, but had little to show for it. Just five balls in play had an expected batting average of .400 or better, according to Statcast.
Part of that was pitch selection and sequencing. His changeup and slider produced 17 swinging strikes. His 18 called strikes spanned the width of his arsenal, including 11 on four-seam fastballs and sinkers.
¡°Changeup and slider were both pretty dialed today, both command-wise and shape-wise,¡± Olson said. ¡°We leaned on that and then we picked our spots with the sinker to get some early outs. When they were expecting offspeed, mix it up to speed them up, then go back to the offspeed.¡±
Location was also a factor. Oscar Gonzalez¡¯s eighth-inning walk followed just the second three-ball count Olson encountered. He didn¡¯t have a two-ball count until Gavin Sheets in the fourth, and he didn¡¯t throw consecutive balls to a batter until the end of the fifth. He retired 16 consecutive Padres after former Tiger Jose Iglesias¡¯ third-inning single, then left following Iglesias¡¯ ground-ball single in the eighth.
¡°He hit his spots, hit the corners, didn't leave many pitches over the middle of the plate,¡± Machado said. ¡°Couldn't really do much with it. When stuff like that happens, you've just got to tip your cap, man. He threw a helluva game.¡±