Reese Olson dazzles as Tigers blank Padres

Chris McCosky, The Detroit News on Apr 23, 2025

Published in Baseball

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DETROIT — You know when managers talk about efficient pitching performances?

This is what they’re talking about.

Reese Olson put on a master class in strike-zone domination Wednesday, helping the Detroit Tigers win their sixth series of the young season, beating the San Diego Padres, 6-0, at Comerica Park.

Olson, spinning the ball with precision, breezed through the Padres’ right-handed-heavy batting order, allowing two hits with seven strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings.

He was filling up the strike zone and the Padres’ hitters were in getaway-day mode — swinging early and often. Good formula for Olson on this day.

After three innings, he had thrown 26 pitches, 23 strikes. He was at 47 pitches after five innings, 61 pitches after six and he went into the eighth at 71 pitches.

He finished eight innings just once in his career, May 14 last season against the Miami Marlins at Comerica Park, an eventual 1-0 loss in 10 innings.

He got one out in the eighth, a fly out to the wall in center that Javier Báez ran 116 feet to track and catch. But he walked Oscar Gonzalez on five pitches and gave up his second single of the day to Jose Iglesias.

He was still only at 85 pitches and he left to a loud standing ovation, giving way to Tommy Kahnle, who finished the inning with no damage.

Olson and catcher Dillon Dingler were expertly mixing sliders and changeups off 95-mph four-seam fastballs and sinkers. He got eight whiffs on 11 swings with the slider, and nine on 16 swings with the changeup.

It looked like the Tigers were going to knock out Padres lefty starter Kyle Hart in the first inning.

Gleyber Torres torched a 92-mph fastball for his second homer of the year. The ball left his bat at 108 mph and flew 402 feet into the seats in left field. And the Tigers proceeded to load the bases with one out.

But Hart regathered and struck out Zach McKinstry and Dingler to end the ending.

The Tigers didn’t touch him again until the fifth. He set down 12 of 13 hitters, with the one runner (Andy Ibáñez) reaching on an error.

They finally did get Hart out of the game. Justyn-Henry Malloy, fighting through a 2 for 20 skid, destroyed a hanging slider and drove it over the fence in left-center.

His first homer left his bat at 111.7 mph.

Malloy ripped an RBI double in the seventh and scored on Riley Greene’s second hit of the game as the Tigers doubled their lead.

They had one more long ball in them. Dingler put the game out of reach in the eighth with a two-run homer to left off lefty reliever Yuki Matsui. That ball was scorched, too. Dingler (three homers) barreled a splitter, 103 mph off his bat.

The Tigers (15-10) finally will get an off day Thursday after playing 13 straight days. They went 8-5 in that stretch.

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