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The Detroit Tigers are starting to look like themselves again as they have won two games in a row after losing 12 of 13. The most recent win came against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night, and rookie Troy Melton was on the mound for the Tigers. His first start was last week against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and it was a shaky one. However, he looked outstanding on Monday night as he pitched seven shutout innings in a 5-1 victory for Detroit.
Not only did Troy Melton have a successful start, but he had one of the best outings that we have seen from a Tigers pitcher this season. He only threw 87 pitches in seven innings, and struck out five and walked none. He gave up just five hits. Melton was outstanding, and he is proud of the adjustment that he has made since his last outing.
“Honestly, that’s one of the things I had to learn in professional baseball, being a little less emotional and taking things pitch by pitch,” he said, according to an article from MLB.com. “It’s a very conscious effort, but it’s something I’m proud of.”
Dillon Dingler was behind the plate catching Melton on Monday night, and he was impressed with what he saw. Every pitch that Melton has was working, and Dingler enjoyed catching a game like that.
“He has a ton of different shapes that are really, really good,” he said. “It was fully on display today. He did a great job of commanding his heater, cutter backdoor, slider down. It was a lot of fun.”
Tigers manager AJ Hinch, like the entire team, was also impressed. He noticed that Melton seemed a lot more calm during this outing compared to his first one against the Pirates.
“I think early in his outing in Pittsburgh, he was jumping off the rubber a little bit, he was doing a little bit too much,” Hinch said. “But generally speaking, because he has a calm heartbeat, he can execute a game plan. And with all of the different options that he and Ding (Dillon Dingler) had to go to against this lineup, he can generate a lot of quick outs and also escape some issues because of the power in his stuff.”
If the Tigers can get some consistency from Troy Melton, that would be huge given some issues and injuries to the rotation. Detroit has been one of the best teams in baseball all year, but their recent skid is definitely concerning. A lot of the losses were because of pitching woes.
Detroit and Arizona will be back in action on Tuesday night. The two teams will get underway at 6:40 ET from Comerica Park. Casey Mize will be on the rubber for the Tigers, and Brandon Pfaadt will get the start for the Diamondbacks. The series finale will go down on Wednesday afternoon.
