Olson exits early with shoulder soreness in Tigers' win

TORONTO -- Everything looked “typical Reese” before the second inning.

“All of a sudden, he’s gone,” said catcher Jake Rogers.

The Tigers’ 7-3 win over the Blue Jays on Saturday was dampened by Reese Olson’s early exit due to right shoulder soreness, a tough development for a pitcher in the midst of a great sophomore season.

Beyond some struggles with commanding his four-seamer and his slider, there wasn’t much to indicate anything was wrong at Rogers Centre. Olson’s velocity was on par with what it’s been all season, and his trusted sinker generated inning-ending double plays in each of the first two frames.

“He was nails,” said Rogers. “He was great in his bullpen and everything, honestly, looked incredible. I mean, it looked like typical Reese.”

But Olson walked off the mound shaking his right arm after the second inning, and manager A.J. Hinch didn’t want to take any chances.

“We kind of quickly rushed him downstairs to get a quick evaluation,” said Hinch. “But once he said his arm was bugging him, we immediately pulled him and then just scurried to get somebody up and going.”

Alex Faedo took over after Olson’s pair of scoreless innings.

It’s still unclear whether Olson, who wasn’t available for questions postgame, will miss any time due to this issue, but Hinch said the 24-year-old would return to Detroit for further examination.

“A series of things are gonna happen in the next 48 hours,” said Hinch. “Obviously he'll go see the doctors and get all the tests, and we'll hope for the best. Generally, I don't love when a pitcher has to come out pertaining to his arm, but we need to do a few things before we're going to know anything.”

The Tigers will hold their breath for the next two days.

Despite pitching with little run support for most of the season, Olson has been one of the the bright spots of an excelling rotation that, heading into Saturday, owned the sixth-best ERA (3.87) in the American League.

This has been a largely healthy season for Olson, save for a scary moment on May 20 when he took a 101.8 mph comebacker off his body and needed to exit his start in Kansas City. The right-hander owns a 3.23 ERA over 103 innings across 19 starts.

“It's tough to lose anybody, and it's especially tough for those guys out in the bullpen,” said Rogers. “They had no idea it was coming. Shoutout to them to be ready and come out and do what they did to those good hitters across the field.”

After quickly warming up during the top of the third, Faedo pitched two scoreless frames of his own, striking out three. Kenta Maeda allowed three sixth-inning runs before Tyler Holton and Shelby Miller shut the door to secure a series win and the Tigers’ 10th victory in their past 12 games.

Based on how the season has gone, maybe it’s fitting that the Tigers’ bats didn’t break out until after Olson’s departure. Rogers was the catalyst, launching a grand slam in a sixth inning that started with a single, a walk and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases and ended with six runs added to the board.

“We’ve all got to chip in,” said Rogers. “We're a really young team and little things matter. … I wanted to get one or two [runs] in there, and I got four [instead].”

Maeda ran into trouble in the bottom half, but Rogers’ big swing allowed Hinch to keep the veteran righty in the game instead of reaching for the bullpen again, a welcome development considering the uncertainty around Olson’s upcoming availability.

Seeing as how right-hander Casey Mize is not expected back from the IL until at least the end of the month as he recovers from a left hamstring strain, the Tigers would be in a tough position if Olson were to miss any starts. Detroit has turned to rookie Keider Montero (No. 6 prospect) to fill some gaps in the rotation -- either for Mize or Jack Flaherty when he was forced to skip a start with a lower back issue.

Next in line may be Maeda, who was moved to the bullpen on July 11 after struggling to a 7.26 ERA through 16 starts. No. 5 prospect Ty Madden could also be a candidate to make his big league debut, but he would need to be added to the 40-man roster.