Tigers Turn to Troy Melton to Turn Things Around in Final Stretch
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The Detroit Tigers ended August in unfortunate fashion, dropping the series opener to the Minnesota Twins by the final score of 11-1. The Hao-Yu Lee home run was the only run scored for Detroit, as manager A.J. Hinch didn't hold back in his postgame comments.
"Tonight was a really bad night. You can pick any aspect; we got outplayed. It's a bad feeling going back to the hotel after a game like that. Across the board, we didn't do our job," Hinch said via Chris McCosky of The Detroit News on X (formerly Twitter).
Detroit's playoff hopes aren't looking good, but there's still one month of ball to play before it's all said and done. That said, the Tigers turn to one of their youngest starting pitchers, who's been known to put the team on his back in the past, Troy Melton, to end the losing skid.
Melton Takes the Bump
If anything is proof enough of a rough month for the Tigers in August, Melton only led the team to two victories, dropping three in a row in consecutive starts. But even then, the losses weren't all on Melton, who delivered seven strong innings his last time out, allowing three runs on seven hits.
When Melton is missing bats, that's when he's most effective. Sure, it's that way for every pitcher, but more often than not this season, Melton has limited contact; when he is hit, he's hit hard. This is the most work Melton has gotten in his professional career, so it's normal to see a regression.
For August, Melton posted a 2.10 ERA in five starts, pitching in 30 innings and allowing seven walks. Seven walks in five starts is an improvement from what he had in July, in which he walked 12 across 29.1 innings. Funny enough, Melton went undefeated that month, thanks to a 0.92 monthly ERA.
Keeping the ball in the zone and forcing soft, rolled-over contact is what Melton should aim for in his first start of the new month. He's taken on the Minnesota Twins before - his last outing was back in June, when he pitched in five innings, allowing four runs, all on solo shots, and striking out five. Detroit would win that game 10-4.
Getting Riley Greene back in the lineup should help raise the confidence of an offense that's struggled. On top of that, John Peck will get his first Major League start and at-bat after entering the game in the bottom of the eighth as a defensive replacement.
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Dominic Minchella is a 2024 Eastern Michigan University graduate with a BA in Communications, Media, and Theatre Arts and a Journalism minor. He covers Major League Baseball for On SI and spends his free time watching games and sharing his insights.