'Too many mistakes:' Tigers blow lead in 9th, drop series finale to Guardians in 10th
Chris McCosky
Cleveland — No mincing of words after this one.
"You saw the mistakes," manager AJ Hinch said after the Tigers were walked off in the 10th inning, losing to the Cleveland Guardians, 5-4 at Progressive Field on Wednesday. "Too many mistakes. Pick a side of the ball and we didn't do enough to win the game. This one got away because we put ourselves in a really tough spot."
BOX SCORE: Guardians 5, Tigers 4 (10 innings)
The Guardians were gifted two unearned runs in this one. Javier Báez, the Tigers' free runner in the top of the 10th, was thrown out trying to scramble back to second base on a ground ball right at the shortstop. The offense scored four runs in the fourth inning (doubles by Kerry Carpenter and Zach McKinstry and a two-run single by Colt Keith), but had just two base runners after that.
"We just didn't get it done," said catcher Jake Rogers, whose first error of the season contributed to an unearned run in the eighth inning.
The Tigers were within two outs of securing the first win of the season for right-hander Reese Olson, who pitched masterfully for six innings and left with a 4-2 lead. But the eighth and ninth innings will probably leave a mark for at least another day.
Lefty Joey Wentz, who got the final out in the seventh, gave up a single to No. 9 hitter Brayan Rocchio to start the eighth. Wentz threw over twice to hold Rocchio close, but on a third-strike pitch to Estevan Florial, Rocchio took off for second. Rogers’ throw went into center field and Rocchio jogged into third base.
"Oh yeah," Rogers said when asked if the throw sailed out of his hand. "Felt incredible. Just threw it into center field."
Rocchio scored on a check-swing groundout by Andres Gimenez.
"It's more about that eighth inning and the cheap run," Hinch said. "We gave them a full trip around the bases."
That run made it a one-swing game and the Guardians got that swing in the bottom of the ninth. After lefty Andrew Chafin struck out left-handed hitting Josh Naylor, right-handed hitting David Fry lofted a sinker that was off the plate outside and sent it high in the air down the line in right field. It flew 334 feet and fell inside the foul pole.
"The pitch was a little higher than I wanted," Chafin said. "It didn't sink like I wanted it to. But it wasn't a terrible pitch. It was off the plate. Not a terrible pitch in that situation. Just one of those things. It went too high, got caught in the jet stream and said, see-ya."
Chafin was told that the ball would have been a home run in just 10 other big-league ballparks.
"Well it was a homer today," he said. "That sucked."
Said Hinch: "The wind seemed to take it but Fry got extended. He's got power and that was the one thing that couldn't happen in that spot. It looked like the pitch was off the plate and it looked like a tough pitch to hit. But he got barrel to it and the ball flew just enough."
After the Tigers failed to score the free runner in the top of the 10th, the Guardians walked it off against Alex Lange in their half. Tyler Freeman bunted free runner Ramon Laureano to third and Rocchio gave the Guardians the series win with a line-drive single.
"We made too many mistakes," Hinch said. "That's the point."
The Tigers (19-18) have played the most one-run games in baseball this season and are 7-8 in them.
It was another strong but empty start for Olson. The Tigers had scored just three runs while Olson he was on the mound in his first six starts this season. And they didn’t score for the first three innings Wednesday.
But when Olson went back out for the fourth inning, there was a four-spot on the board and he was working with a two-run lead.
He responded by setting down 14 straight hitters.
"I think that's a big part of me growing as a pitcher," said Olson, who allowed just one hit in six innings. "After we had that long inning and they scored some runs for me, to go back out there and continue to put up zeroes is big."
Olson has allowed two runs or less in five of his seven starts this season and but for one spot of bother in the second inning, he was in complete control.
"To settle down and get through my outing without giving up any more damage, that's something I probably wouldn't be able to do at this point last year at Triple A," he said. "I'm happy with how far I've come in that sense."
It took him a couple of innings to start sticking his changeup, but once he did, he used it to neutralize the six left-handed hitters in the Guardians’ lineup. He ended up inducing nine ground-ball outs.
It should have been 10. Because in the second, after he walked Josh Naylor, he got Fry to bounce on to third baseman McKinstry. But instead of a fast double play, second baseman Andy Ibanez completely whiffed on the throw and Cleveland suddenly had runners at second and third with no outs.
"That's tough," Rogers said. "That's a double-play and we are probably out of the inning and Reese's pitch count is down and he probably goes a little farther. He had them off-balance all day. It sucks. Mistakes happen but, bad time."
Olson gave up an RBI single to Austin Hedges, but effectively limited the damage. He didn’t allow another hitter to reach base.
Interesting side note on Olson: He hasn’t allowed a home run since Max Muncy got him at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 20, 2023 — 45 innings.
"Reese was tremendous again today," Hinch said. "We like his calmness. We like that he's going to make pitches. He's got a full array of pitches that he can attack different lineups with. He did his part."
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky