Starter Reese Olson pitched a one-hit gem, but the Toronto Blue Jays rallied late to beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-1, on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Centre..
The Tigers (30-16) snapped a four-game win streak and have split the first two games of the series with the Jays (22-23).
Olson gave up a leadoff single to Bo Bichette to open the game, then faced the minimum over the next 18 batters.
He handed the bullpen a 1-0 lead in the seventh, but things got hairy almost immediately.
After Tigers reliever Beau Brieske walked the first batter he faced, Daulton Varsho came within a few feet of a go-ahead homer. His deep liner landed just outside the right-field foul pole. Varsho was ultimately retired, but Brieske was pulled after walking George Springer.
Lefty Tyler Holton entered and, on his very first pitch, got speedy pinch-hitter Myles Straw to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play.
But in the eighth, Holton walked leadoff man Ernie Clement, and pinch-hitter Alejandro Kirk battled back from an 0-2 count to rope a game-tying single down the right-field line off Will Vest.
In the ninth, Varsho doubled and Clement hit a walk-off single against Brenan Hanifee.
The Blue Jays used a bullpen game of sorts, deploying five pitchers after starter Eric Lauer went just three innings.
The Tigers’ lone run came on Spencer Torkelson’s solo homer in the second inning.
This story will be updated.
Up next: The Tigers and Blue Jays wrap up their three-game series on Sunday at 1:37 p.m.
Tigers rookie right-hander Jackson Jobe (3-0, 4.32 ERA) will face Jays right-hander José BerrÃos (1-1, 4.33).
The Tigers are 7-0 in games Jobe has started this year. He’s getting more run support than any other starter in baseball: 10.6 runs per 27 outs, or more than one run every inning.
He recorded a career-high 15 swings and misses in his last outing on May 12 against the Boston Red Sox.
BerrÃos, who turns 31 later this month, is the brother-in-law of Tigers center fielder Javier Báez. He has earned a reputation as one of the most durable starters in the league, logging exactly 32 starts in each of the last six full MLB seasons (2018–19 and 2021–24).