Reese Olson wins battle of rookies in Detroit Tigers' 4-2 victory over Los Angeles Dodgers

Detroit Tigers right-hander Reese Olson and Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Bobby Miller — a pair of 24-year-old rookie pitchers — squared off in Wednesday's series finale at Dodger Stadium.

Olson beat Miller, and the Tigers beat the Dodgers, 4-2, thanks to six strong innings from Olson.

The 24-year-old, who owns a 4.13 ERA in 98 innings, didn't allow a hit until Max Muncy's single with one out in the fourth inning and didn't allow a run until Muncy's solo home run with two outs in the sixth inning.

"His stuff and his mix was incredible against a good-hitting lineup," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters in Los Angeles. "He was very relentless in the strike zone. When they were aggressive, he still stayed in the strike zone. When they were patient, he pounded the strike zone."

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The Tigers (71-81) won one of three games in the series against the National League West champions. The final leg of the three-city West Coast trip is a four-game series against the Oakland Athletics, beginning Thursday.

Olson allowed one run on two hits and two walks with five strikeouts across six innings, throwing 57 of 94 pitches. He generated 11 whiffs with six sliders, three changeups and two curveballs.

His sinker and slider struck out Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, respectively, in the first inning.

Only three batters reached safely through 5⅔ innings: Muncy on a walk in the first inning, Muncy on a single in the fourth inning and J.D. Martinez on a walk in the fourth inning. Olson escaped the fourth inning by getting ground-ball outs from David Peralta and Jason Heyward.

Both players grounded out on changeups.

Olson sent down Betts (pop out) and Freeman (groundout) to begin the sixth inning, but Muncy stayed locked in by hammering a slider at the bottom of the strike zone for a solo home run.

Before the home run, which trimmed the Tigers' lead to 2-1, Muncy refused to swing at the first two pitches, a down-and-away changeup and a down-and-away four-seam fastball. His plate discipline seemed to force Olson back into the strike zone.

Muncy hit the third-pitch slider 428 feet to right-center field.

Olson used 25 sliders (27%), 24 changeups (26%), 24 sinkers (26%), 12 four-seam fastballs (13%) and nine curveballs (10%). After he completed six innings, the Tigers finished the game with two relievers out of the bullpen.

"When his pitch mix is right, he's as good as anyone that we have," Hinch said. "I really believe that. I think he's gaining confidence. When you come into Dodger Stadium and pitch as well as he did, he's going to come out of here with his chest held high and feel good about his outing. He expects a lot out of himself."

The Dodgers scored their second run, making it 4-2, on Freeman's groundout in the eighth inning. Right-handed reliever Will Vest covered the final 1⅔ innings for a five-out save.

Miller time

As Olson dominated the Dodgers, Miller was sharp against the Tigers with six innings of two-run ball. He gave up those two runs on three hits and one walk with seven strikeouts, throwing 63 of 98 pitches for strikes.

Miller struck out the side in the first inning.

"He knows what he's trying to do, and he's unafraid," Hinch said. "With his pitch mix, you have to honor a lot of things with him. ... We bounced back in the second and got a run across with some good swings."

A double from Kerry Carpenter, though, sparked the Tigers in the second inning. He came around to score on Tyler Nevin's single for a 1-0 lead. In the third inning, Spencer Torkelson extended the lead to 2-0 with a sacrifice fly.

Miller, the No. 29 overall pick in the 2020 draft, generated 12 whiffs with four fastballs, two curveballs, three changeups, two sinkers and one slider. His fastball averaged 99.2 mph, maxing out at 100.5 mph.

Two more runs

The Tigers tacked on two runs between the seventh and eighth innings.

A two-out throwing error by Muncy kept the Tigers alive in the seventh inning. Parker Meadows reached safely on the error and stole second base to move into scoring position. The Tigers took advantage of the mistake when Carson Kelly drove in Meadows with a single to left field off right-handed reliever Ryan Brasier.

Kelly's single put the Tigers ahead, 3-1.

The lead increased to 4-1 against right-handed reliever Evan Phillips in the eighth inning, thanks to two-out hits from Carpenter and Andy Ibáñez. Just as the seventh, Carpenter scored from second base on Ibáñez's single to right field.

Carpenter, Nevin and Kelly had two-hit performances.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers break through in L.A., 4-2, to avoid Dodgers sweep