Carpenter returns, Olson looks sharp in Tigers’ shutout loss
NORTH PORT, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers lost to the Atlanta Braves, 3-0, on Tuesday at CoolToday Park.
The Tigers are 6-5-1 in Grapefruit League play.
What happened
Outfielder Kerry Carpenter, serving as the designated hitter, returned from a left hamstring strain for his Grapefruit League debut, following an estimated 30-40 plate appearances over the past week in live batting practice on the backfields.
“I’ve been wanting to get back out there,” Carpenter said. “No reason to rush getting back in the game, but the at-bats are the thing that get me the most ready, so I hit live at-bats every day.”
The 26-year-old had to face Braves righthander Spencer Strider, who finished fourth in National League Cy Young voting last season. He took Strider’s 98 mph fastball to the warning track in left-center field — resulting in a flyout to end the top of the first inning — in his first plate appearance.
Carpenter, a left-handed hitter, said live batting practice against top pitching prospect Jackson Jobe prepared him for Strider’s nasty three-pitch arsenal, comprised of a high-velocity fastball, a swing-and-miss slider and a changeup for lefty hitters.
“Jobe was very similar,” Carpenter said. “That’s about it.”
Carpenter grounded into an inning-ending double play on Strider’s slider in the third inning. He then faced right-hander Charlie Morton, who had a 3.64 ERA in 30 starts last season, for his third and final plate appearance in the sixth inning.
He hit Morton’s fastball for a single.
“He’s tough,” Carpenter said. “The arm angle, the curveball feels like it’s coming out of left field. He froze me. I hit a fastball up. I was
on time with the heater for the whole at-bat.”
Manager A.J. Hinch said Carpenter, who has been doing outfield drills in workouts, will be the designated hitter in Thursday’s split-squad game against the New York Yankees in Tampa, Florida. After that, he will play in the outfield again.
“We don’t want him to miss time, but he didn’t really miss anything but game time,” Hinch said. “We talk about timing all the time. He’s exactly at or ahead of where any of our players are in camp, offensively . ... I expected him to be comfortable to play given the work he’s put in.”
After the single, Carpenter jogged off the field with a smile on his face.
He was replaced by pinch-runner Keston Hiura.
“Just happy to be out there,” Carpenter said.
Starting off
Right-hander Reese Olson completed three scoreless innings with zero walks and four strikeouts.
His four strikeouts: Forrest Wall (swinging, 88 mph changeup), Ozzie Albies (looking, 80 mph curveball), Travis d’Arnaud (swinging, 95 mph fastball) and Albies again (swinging, 87 mph changeup).
“The outing as a whole felt really good,” Olson said. “I commanded everything a little bit better. I keep getting better.”
Olson has improved in each of his three starts in spring training.
The 24-year-old allowed two runs across 12⁄3 innings to the New York Yankees in his first start and two runs across two innings to the Boston Red Sox in his second start. He has zero walks and seven strikeouts across five innings in his past two starts, facing the Red Sox and Braves.
“First one, it was just getting the first one out of the way,” Olson said. “Last outing, I thought it was good. Didn’t really get barreled, but I gave up a few hits. Today was similar to my last one. I felt like I commanded everything pretty good.”
“He did a good job,” Hinch said. “Better stuff, better location and a good finish to innings. That was good to see. I thought his stuff was a tick better. He should be pleased.”
Olson allowed just two hits to the Braves. One of the hits was a two-strike, two-out single to right-center by Wall in the third inning. Right fielder Bligh Madris struggled to pick up the ball and was charged with a fielding error, allowing Wall to advance to third base.
Olson fell behind 2-0 in the count to Albies, but he responded with three consecutive strikeouts. He generated a swinging strikeout with his changeup and stranded the runner at third base.
“I just wanted to get back in the strike zone,” Olson said. “That happened in the second inning, as well. Runner on base, I was getting quick from the stretch. I just had to lock in. I know what the mechanical cue is that I need to not have that, so it’s just locking in and making sure I’m not doing that with runners on base in the stretch.”
“He’s a strike thrower,” Hinch said. “He has a lot of confidence, and he has pitches that he can attack hitters in the strike zone. He doesn’t have to nibble and be too fine, and when he gets his delivery in sync, he’s a good strike thrower with multiple pitches.”
He threw 30 of 50 pitches for strikes.
At the plate
The Tigers finished with six hits and four walks but didn’t score.
Three consecutive hits in the third inning put the Tigers in a position to score, but Ryan Kreidler was thrown out at home plate trying to score on Wenceel Pérez’s single. Kreidler, McKinstry and Pérez had the three straight singles, and after the play at the plate, Carpenter hit into an inning-ending double play.
“He tagged him,” Hinch said.
Strider fired four scoreless innings with four hits, one walk and four strikeouts; Morton tossed 22⁄3 scoreless innings with two hits, two walks and three strikeouts.
On the mound
Right-handed reliever Wilmer Flores replaced Olson in the fourth inning. He threw two scoreless innings with two hits, one walk and three strikeouts.
His fastball touched 99 mph.
“He’s not a one-pitch pitcher,” Hinch said, referencing Flores’ slider and curveball. “To be an effective pitcher for us at some point, he’s going to need to locate both.”
The Tigers also pitched four left-handers in a row: Joey Wentz, Brant Hurter, Sean Guenther and Bryan Sammons. Wentz gave up one run; Guenther gave up two runs.
The Braves took a 1-0 lead off Wentz in the sixth inning, thanks to a sacrifice fly from Phillip Evans. The first two batters — Jordan Luplow (walk) and Andrew Velazquez (single) — reached safely against Wentz in the sixth.
Three stars
1. Olson, 2. Carpenter, 3. Flores.