Dominant Reese Olson start vs Padres shows he can keep pace with Tigers' elite cast

Following the conclusion of the Detroit Tigers' series finale against the Padres on Wednesday, four out of five of Detroit's starters have sub-3.00 ERAs. The only exception is Reese Olson. While Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize, and Jackson Jobe have all put a foot wrong here and there, their early-season greatness has far outweighed their mistakes.

The same couldn't really be said for Olson's first three starts. In 15 innings, he gave up 10 earned runs on 17 hits and eight walks to the Dodgers, White Sox, and Twins, leaving him at a 6.00 ERA. His next start against the Royals went better; he pitched five scoreless innings and only allowed four hits and two walks.

However, his start on Wednesday afternoon saw him reaching a new peak. San Diego's hitters went down in order in the second and then the fourth through the seventh. Only one batter was able to get a hit off of him in seven — Jose Iglesias in the top of the third — and he struck out seven.

AJ Hinch sent him back out to start the eighth and Olson got his first out easily enough, but a walk and then a single got him pulled and replaced by Tommy Kahnle. Still, 7 1/3 innings and two hits allowed marks one of the longest and certainly one of the best starts of Olson's career so far.

Reese Olson dominates Padres in Tigers' rubber match to win series

Olson's only gone seven or more innings two other times in his career, once in 2023 and once in 2024. The 2023 start looked a lot like Wednesday's, but the latest one still has the edge; Olson gave up four hits in that rookie season start and only struck out one batter.

The Tigers' offense, meanwhile, had his back. Gleyber Torres and Justyn-Henry Malloy got the scoring started in early innings with solo homers, then Malloy tacked on another with an RBI double in his next at-bat. Riley Greene showed signs of life after a rough start to the season with an RBI single, and then rookie Dillon Dingler — an offensive breakout this season if there ever was one — hammered a two-run homer to give the Tigers a 6-0 lead.

With this start, Olson has a 3.33 ERA and is closing the gap between himself and his veteran teammates. The Tigers very well might have a rotation completely full of sub-3.00 ERA guys soon enough, as Olson works to prove he can keep up in elite fashion with the rest of the group.