Olson's tough luck draws comps that go back half a century

DETROIT -- If Reese Olson needed any sympathy over his 0-4 record and 3.18 ERA, he could look to Lerrin LaGrow.

Fifty years ago, LaGrow was a budding young starter out of the Tigers system who had just cracked the rotation out of Spring Training for the first time under new manager Ralph Houk, who gave the big right-hander the leash to pitch deep as long as he pitched. LaGrow not only went the distance in three of his first six starts of 1974, he pitched into extra innings in two of them -- 10 innings on April 23, then 11 innings two weeks later. He took 1-0 losses in both of them, both on home runs.

At the time, LaGrow was the first Tigers pitcher since Ed Siever in 1902, the Tigers’ second season in the American League, to throw at least six innings of one-run ball and lose twice within the first 26 games of a season. Friday’s 8-0 loss to the Royals at Comerica Park gave the Hard-Luck Club a third member.

Eleven days after Olson tossed six innings of one-run ball against the Rangers and lost to ex-teammate Michael Lorenzen, he escaped a bases-loaded jam with a Bobby Witt Jr. sacrifice fly and paid for it in a duel with another high-spin hurler, Kansas City’s Seth Lugo. In the end, the Royals’ seven-run ninth inning spared Olson the repeat of a low-scoring defeat, but the loss still hurt nonetheless, more as an indictment of Detroit’s mercurial offense than of Olson’s actual pitching.

Olson is 0-4 with a 3.18 ERA through five starts. The Tigers have scored two runs total when he has been in the game, and seven runs total when he has been the pitcher of record. At least LaGrow got a couple wins in between his extra-inning defeats.

Fortune eventually smiled on LaGrow, who didn’t suffer any other such losses in that ‘74 season. Still, he lost 12 of his final 13 decisions after July 5 to finish 8-19 and admittedly let his struggles, and his temper, get to him.

“I was just waiting for something to go wrong. And when it did, I’d blow up,” LaGrow told then-Tigers beat writer Jim Hawkins the following spring for The Sporting News, according to his SABR biography.

Olson isn’t much of a risk to suffer that mentality. Like LaGrow in ‘74, the 24-year-old is trying to stake his place after making Detroit’s rotation out of Spring Training for the first time. But beyond Olson’s even-keeled personality, he pitches in an era where stats and metrics make it easier to separate individual performance from team fortunes.

“His job is pretty isolated,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “His job is to pitch well and give us a chance to win, and he’s really good at doing his part. I don’t think he gets caught up in tough-luck losses or not scoring runs for him or whatever. His job is pretty clearly defined to go out and get outs.

“He’s very balanced as a human. I think he’s really good at keeping his focus on the right things. Whether it’s a personality trait or just maturity, he’s pretty good.”

Olson’s answer was simple.

“Just doing what I can do, going out there and trying to make pitches, not really worrying about anything other than throwing strikes, getting ahead of guys and putting them away early,” Olson said.

In that respect, the one batter he could look back on with regret was the one before Witt’s sac fly. The Royals managed just three singles off Olson, but two came consecutively with one out in the third after Olson retired the first seven batters in order. But a four-pitch walk to Maikel Garcia -- Olson has admittedly struggled when pitching out of the stretch for the first time in games -- loaded the bases for Witt, whose fly ball to center scored Adam Frazier easily.

That was it. Parker Meadows nearly answered with a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning, but Frazier brought it back with a leaping catch at the right-field fence.

Olson tossed seven innings for the second time in his young big league career, matching his scoreless gem against the White Sox last Sept. 2. He won three times in a four-start stretch that month, each time pitching six innings or more and allowing one or no runs. He also had ample run support.

He trusts in those good times happening again.