new York — This must be like déjà vu for Reese Olson. Or maybe he just accepts it as normal now.
The Tigers right-hander pitched another gem Friday night, shutting out the Yankees on two hits in five innings. But, as has been the case all season, he didn’t get much support from his offense.
“That’s part of it,” Olson said after the Yankees rallied from within two runs in the bottom of the ninth and beat the Tigers, 2-1, at Yankee Stadium. “I’m sure I’ll have a few outings throughout the year where we score 10, I give up five and we get the win. That’s just part of baseball.”
The Yankees had been held in check from the sixth to the eighth, but in the ninth against Jason Foley, the balls started to find holes. Aaron Judge led off with a ground out single. Alex Verdugo followed with a one-run single. Giancarlo Stanton, who had struck out three earlier, hit a game-tying double into the right field corner.
With the winning run on third base and first base open, manager AJ Hinch gathered his infield to the mound.
“There were no outs and we had a mess,” Hinch said. “I just wanted to calm the defense down and make sure they knew the ball was going to get hit on the ground somewhere, probably multiple times if we got past Rizzo.”
BOX SCORE: Yankees 2, Tigers 1
They did not do it. Anthony Rizzo hit one to the infield. Game over.
“We obviously had to play the infield,” Hinch said. “It was all or nothing.”
It was Foley’s first missed save in 10 chances this season.
“It just happens,” Olson said. “It’s a long season. I trust our bullpen. I’ll play them against anyone.”
In his six starts, Olson has held his opponent to two points or less five times. But in all of those starts, he averaged 2.35 points per game. The Tigers only had three points total while he was in the game, five after he left.
That’s why he came in winless despite a stingy ERA of 3.18, now 2.70.
“I wouldn’t say we pressure when Reese is pitching,” said Riley Greene, who had three of the Tigers’ five hits, plus a walk. “We’re playing baseball. Reese came out and pitched really well and we didn’t give him any runs. It’s always tough. But it is what it is.”
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Olson, admittedly without his best assets, handled the Yankees’ dangerous right-handed hitters (Judge, Stanton, Gleyber Torres) with effective double-seamers and sliders. The lefties (Juan Soto, Verdugo, Rizzo) have been on a steady diet of four-seamers and changeups.
Both successes were singles. He walked two and struck out five. He had just seven swings and misses, but 20 called strikes – seven with the four-seamer, six with the two-seamer.
“Anytime I can put up zeros like that, I consider it a good outing,” Olson said. “Obviously, I didn’t feel good. I didn’t really have the feel of my changeup. I know it was around the zone enough to mix the speeds. But it didn’t have the same longevity. “
The Yankees made him work (88 pitches in five innings with 18 foul balls). And the 11 balls they put in play had a robust average exit velocity of 96.7 mph.
So, with the lead in the Yankees’ lineup expected in the sixth, Hinch went to his bullpen and came within three outs of making that run stand.
Right-hander Alex Faedo was outstanding in the sixth, striking out Anthony Volpe, Soto and Judge.
He walked Verdugo to start the seventh, then struck out Stanton. As lefties Rizzo and Austin Wells arrived, Hinch called on southpaw Andrew Chafin.
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Chafin went off-script briefly while walking Rizzo. But he ended the inning by allowing Gleyber Torres, who was swinging right, to bounce right to Keith behind the bag and he turned it into a quick 4-3 double play.
Hinch saw a pocket for right-hander Shelby Miller in the eighth. He sent in Wells and Oswaldo Cabrera but took Volpe out. This sparked a duel with Soto. After falling behind 3-1, Miller painted the inside corner with a 94 mph fastball, then had Soto briefly pop out to Baez.
It was within reach.
“A one-run game and that makes you vulnerable to things like that ninth inning,” Hinch said. “It’s not easy. These guys are making shots and they played some pretty good defense behind it. But when you look at close games, it’s about taking advantage of opportunities.
“They had a better race than us.”
The Tigers had a plan to be aggressive and put pressure on Yankees starter Marcus Stroman. Mark Canha was running on a pitch in the first inning and avoided a potential double play on Wenceel Perez’s hard-hit grounder in the second and was in scoring position with two outs.
In the second, Zach McKinstry walked and stole second with two outs.
In the third, Greene singled and advanced to second on a groundout.
But in each case, the RBI hit was lacking. Stroman grounded Kerry Carpenter in the first, retired Javier Baez on three pitches in the second and allowed Perez to fly out in the third.
Finally, in the sixth, the Tigers managed a run. Stroman, who nibbled at the edges of the strike zone all game, ultimately paid the price.
Greene singled and with one out, Stroman walked Wenceel Perez and Carpenter to load the bases. He got two quick strikes on rookie Keith. But Keith fought back, fouled a few tough pitches and took an eight-pitch walk to force Greene home.
The seven walks were a team high for the Tigers.
But that was all. Right-hander Ian Hamilton struck out Spencer Torkelson and forced McKinstry to ground out to minimize the damage.
The Tigers left a lot of runners on base. They went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners stranded.
“We got Stroman out of there by being patient in the sixth and making sure we didn’t try to do too much,” Hinch said. “But we would have loved to keep going. That was the story of the night. We had a couple opportunities where they were able to make some shots and make the most of it and that was the separation we needed.”
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