Detroit, MI
Detroit Tigers waste Reese Olson’s run support in 6-5 loss to Angels in extra innings
Jake Rogers ducked out of the way.
A wild slider from Los Angeles Angels right-hander Griffin Canning nearly hit Rogers in the face, but the Detroit Tigers’ catcher — batting in the nine-hole — leaned back at the last second to avoid getting hit by the pitch. Rogers responded by crushing the next pitch for a two-run home run with two outs in the sixth inning.
It was a cool moment, but the Tigers lost to the Angels, 6-5, on Saturday in the third of four games at Angel Stadium, marking their fourth loss in a row and their 16th loss in 22 games. In the latest loss, Kevin Pillar hit a walk-off single off right-handed reliever Jason Foley in the bottom of the 10th inning.
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Rogers has a .444 batting average with three home runs in 10 plate appearances against Canning in his MLB career. In Saturday’s game, Rogers smoked Canning’s middle-middle fastball for a 443-foot home run to left-center field.
His homer extended the Tigers’ lead to 5-2 in the sixth.
But the Tigers (37-46) — falling nine games below .500 and 16 games behind first place in the American League Central — couldn’t stop a comeback from the Angels.
After Rogers’ home run, the Angels scored two runs in the seventh inning and one run in the eighth to tie the game at five runs apiece before Pillar’s walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.
The Angels trimmed their deficit to 5-4 with a two-run double from Taylor Ward off right-handed reliever Beau Brieske’s first-pitch fastball with one out in the seventh inning. In the eighth, Logan O’Hoppe, who blasted a clutch home run in Friday’s game, smoked a first-pitch slider from right-handed reliever Will Vest for a solo home run to left-center field, making it 5-5.
The game went into extra innings, but the Tigers — despite the free runner on second base — failed to score in the top of the 10th against flame-throwing right-handed reliever Ben Joyce, whose fastball averaged 100.4 mph.
The Angels, of course, scored in the bottom of the 10th.
Facing Foley, Luis Guillorme dropped down a sacrifice bunt to advance the free runner to third base. After that, the Tigers called Matt Vierling from center field to create a five-man infield in search of a ground out to keep the runner at third base, but Pillar smacked Foley’s first-pitch sinker into left field for a line-drive single to end the game.
The Tigers have a 1-5 record in extra innings since winning three times in extra innings during their first five games of the season.
Reese’s piece
Right-hander Reese Olson, who flashed the best version of his slider, allowed two runs on five hits and three walks with nine strikeouts across six innings, throwing 98 pitches.
The Angels, though, had at least one runner on base in five of their six innings against Olson.
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The leadoff hitter reached safely in all five of those innings: Nolan Schanuel’s single in the first, Willie Calhoun’s double in the second, Schanuel’s walk in the third, Schanuel’s double in the fifth and Calhoun’s walk in the sixth.
The Angels scored both runs in the third for a 2-1 lead. The first run scored on a wild pitch with the bases loaded, and the second run scored on a groundout with two runners in scoring position.
Otherwise, Olson worked his way out of trouble.
Olson struck out three batters in a row — Zach Neto (swinging strike, slider), Mickey Moniak (swinging strike, slider), Jo Adell (called strike, fastball) — to strand runners on the corners in the second. After Calhoun’s walk, O’Hoppe struck out swinging, Neto flew out and Moniak struck out swinging to end the sixth.
That’s how Olson ended his 16th start.
He owns a 3.32 ERA in 89⅓ innings.
The early runs
The Tigers scored one run in the first inning and two runs in the fourth inning.
The first run scored as a result of singles from Wenceel Pérez and Vierling, along with Riley Greene reaching safely on a fielding error. With one out, Colt Keith grounded into a force out with the bases loaded for a 1-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, Colt Keith and Gio Urshela collected back-to-back singles. Thanks to those hits, the Tigers ended up taking a 3-2 lead when the runs scored on Zach McKinstry’s groundout and Rogers’ sacrifice fly.
Canning allowed five runs (four earned runs) on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts in six innings, throwing 102 pitches. He has a 4.71 ERA in 17 starts.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Days of Roar” every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.
After getting absolutely annihilated in his previous start on Monday in Minnesota to the tune of 11 runs in just 1.2 innings, Garrett Crochet is set to retake the mound today and convince us all that everything will be fine as far as he and his health are concerned.
Unfortunately, he won’t just be battling the Tigers. Mother Nature is once again destined to play a roll in today’s match up, and here’s how the radar looks inside of an hour from first pitch:
The good news is the initial batch of heavier precipitation has moved out and east of Boston, but more unsettled weather still lurks to the west ahead of a slow moving front. That mess will push through eastern Massachusetts over the next several hours, filling in the current dry slot. While this incoming precipitation won’t be as heavy as what fell at times earlier today, it will come attached with colder and windier conditions, so a miserable weather game lies ahead (if they even try and play through it at all — The Yankees did not and waited around for three hours before starting their game against the Royals at 4:20pm). The other option will be to just wait until after sunset when it will be dryer, but still very cold and windy.
When they do get started, today’s lineup includes Roman Anthony leading off in leftfield, Andruw Monasterio at first base, and Jarren Duran, Masataka Yoshida, and Marcelo Mayer all starting on the bench with an opposing left-handed starter on the mound in Framber Valdez for Detroit.
OTM’s own pitching guru Jacob Roy will be around later to handle the postgame wrap and tell us if we should should be freaking out or breathing a sigh a relief when it comes to Crochet.
The Pistons have made recent moves to add more shooting, but still don’t have anyone quite as lethal as former Detroit guard Luke Kennard. On Saturday night, Kennard had a brilliant start to his postseason with 27 uber-efficient points for the Lakers in a win against the Rockets. His level of 3-point accuracy is something the Pistons have desperately been seeking all season long to bolster their offense.
Luke Kennard’s shooting makes him a dangerous playoff performer
Kennard was originally drafted to Detroit with the 17th pick of the 2017 Draft. The Pistons have plenty of draft regrets from that general era of team history, but picking Kennard has never been one of them. Despite any other weaknesses he may have, his strength as a shooter has always been enough to offset them.
In terms of pure 3-point percentage, Kennard is one of the best shooters in NBA history. He averages 44% behind the arc for his career, and shot a blistering 48% this season – the best mark in the league. Given his incredible track record, it’s not exactly a shocker to see him shoot 5-of-5 from three en route to 27 points in Game 1.
Not only is Kennard obviously an excellent standstill shooter, but he’s also a master of getting himself open with his movement. On Saturday night, he was able to play off LeBron James perfectly for a few easy looks. After that, he caught enough of a rhythm to create 3-point looks for himself, even in transition.
A player like Kennard is easily capable of turning an entire playoff game when he gets hot. In a close series, that one game where Kennard hits several threes can be all the difference his team needs to advance. If the Lakers do manage to win this series, even without Luka Doncic or Austin Reaves, Kennard’s shooting will be a major reason why.
The Pistons could use someone like Kennard
Kennard would be a perfect marginal addition for the Pistons that only makes them better without taking anything away from the team. To be fair, the Pistons do have two shooters who have been hot recently in Duncan Robinson and Kevin Huerter. But having more than one respected shooter on the court at a time is often necessary to maintain a solid offense in today’s NBA.
Given the Pistons’ current lack of shooting, any additional shooters are welcome. And Kennard is understandably one of the most feared shooters in the league, capable of bending defenses just by the threat of him taking a three. Rolling him out on the Pistons would surely open up more lanes for Detroit’s stars to attack the paint and score easier points.
Follow
A Detroit woman was arrested in the aftermath of a hit-and-run collision and shooting on Interstate 94, Michigan State Police reported.
Emergency dispatchers were called shortly after midnight Saturday about the altercation. Troopers reported the caller said while they were driving eastbound on I-94, near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, a black Jeep sideswiped them and sped off.
The caller then decided to follow the Jeep.
In response, police said, the driver of the Jeep fired several gunshots in the caller’s direction.
None of the gunshots struck the vehicle.
Troopers were able to use license plate reader camera technology to locate the Jeep while it was on the Lodge Freeway, made a traffic stop. The driver and two passengers were taken into custody without incident.
The passengers were released shortly afterwards; troopers believe that the 19-year-old driver was the shooter. She has been lodged pending further review by the prosecutor’s office.
In addition, a firearm was recovered from the vehicle.
The above video originally aired on Aug. 19, 2025.
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