Watch: Tigers Starter Reese Olsen Drilled By Hit, Knocked Out of Texas Rangers Series Finale

Texas Rangers shortstop Josh Smith sent a hard hit back up the middle that hit Detroit Tigers starter Reese Olsen in the knee.

© Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports

Detroit Tigers starter Reese Olsen was knocked out of Thursday’s series finale with the Texas Rangers after taking a hard ground ball off the inside of his left knee in the second inning at Globe Life Field.

Rangers shortstop Josh Smith, starting in place of Corey Seager, drilled Olsen’s pitch back up the middle at 104 mph and it caught the right-hander flush on the knee. The ball ricocheted between home and first base into foul territory. Smith reached first easily on the infield hit.

The sound of the ball off Olsen’s leg was easily audible in the ballpark. He immediately fell to the ground and was attended to quickly by the Tigers medical staff.

Reese Olson exits todays game after a comeback ball off the bat of Josh Smith.
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It wasn’t long before Olsen exited the game with two outs in the second. Detroit manager A.J. Hinch went to reliever Tyler Holton, who got Corey Semien out to end the inning.

Olsen, a rookie, gave up one run on three hits in 1 2/3 innings.

Olsen’s injury is the latest in a run of bad luck for the Tigers in the series. In the opener on Monday, Detroit starter Matthew Boyd exited with left elbow discomfort in the first inning and reliever Will Vest was gone after experiencing right knee discomfort in the second.

The Tigers announced later in the game that the Olsen injury is a left knee contusion.

Detroit won 8-3 to end the four-game series.

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