Detroit – Given all the hustle and bustle leading up to it, the game itself was refreshingly tranquil.
Credit rookie Troy Melton for that.
On a day right-handed starter Reese Olson (shoulder) was lost for the rest of the season and veteran Chris Paddack was acquired in a trade from the Twins, Melton, calmly and cooly blanked the Arizona Diamondbacks for seven innings Monday night and the Tigers took the opener of the three-game series 5-1 at Comerica Park.
Afterward wasn’t nearly as tranquil for him. He got the doused with the traditional “beer” shower from his teammates, celebrating his first big-league win.
“Just a lot of stuff,” he said, smiling, when asked what they hit him with. “Whatever they could find in the kitchen, I think.”
Asked if the reality of his first big-league win matched his dream, Melton said, “It’s funny, everything about being here kind of does. It’s one of those very few things in life that does live up to the expectation. It’s been incredible.”
Melton knows something about living up to expectations, himself.
It was his second big-league start and his first at Comerica, but you’d never have known it by his mound presence. Poised and polished.
“That’s one of the biggest things I had to learn in professional baseball,” he said. “Being a little bit less emotional and take it pitch-by-pitch. It’s a very conscious effort but it’s something I’m proud of now at this point.”
Mixing sliders, cutters and splitters off 97-mph four-seamers to the six left-handed hitters in the Arizona lineup, he scattered five singles and struck out five with no walks.
“He had almost everything tonight,” manager AJ Hinch said. “A couple of bad pitches but he filled up the strike zone. He was on the attack from the get-go. He controlled contact. It was just a really impressive night by someone making his first start on this field, getting his first win and I think it was the first time he’s gone seven innings in his pro career.
“To finish as strong as he did was really big for him and for our team.”
His efficiency was beyond his years. He got through his seven innings in 87 pitches, 61 strikes. The Diamondbacks never had multiple runners against him in any inning. The cutter seemed an especially useful pitch for him against the lefties, keeping them in-between both his high-octane heater and slider-splitter combination.
“You get to this level and teams are going to stack lineups against you,” Hinch said. “As a young pitcher, you have to be able to handle the opposite-side hitter. You’re going to see them three times minimum so you need something to get them off your fastball.
“The backdoor cutter was good, the split-change was good and then they have to deal with 96 to 98. You start showing different speeds, different locations and different shapes, I mean, it’s good to have his arsenal.”
Melton, who went to San Diego State, is 24 and there is a maturity to him, on and off the mound. Still, the stillness of his heartbeat in competition, against the best hitters in the world, is impressive.
“He’s really good at staying in the moment,” Hinch said. “Like, he’s not trying to do too much. Because he has a calm heartbeat, he can execute a game plan. And with all the options he and (catcher Dillon) Dingler have to go to, he can generate a lot of quick outs and escape some issues because of the power in his stuff.
“But it does start with the inner confidence to be comfortable at this level.”
Melton left to a standing ovation from the crowd behind the Tigers’ dugout and got both a handshake and a hug from Hinch. His reception, though, got briefly interrupted.
“The umpire (Chris Segal) came up and checked my hands for whatever substances,” Melton said. “He was like, ‘Sorry, man, I have to do it.’ I was like, I get you, dude. He’s doing his job, too. But I felt it (the ovation). It’s awesome. That’s what you want, for the fans to appreciate a winning effort.”
News also came before the game that centerfielder Parker Meadows was placed on the injured list with a quad strain. That was countered by the return of lefty-slayer Andy Ibanez from Triple-A Toledo.
Good timing.
Against former Tigers lefty Eduardo Rodriguez, Ibanez got the offense started with a double in the second inning, scoring on a single by Dingler. Then he led off the fourth with a line drive homer to left.
“I told him before the game, don’t try to make up for lost time in one game,” Hinch said. “So if that’s his way of just settling in — bam, double, homer. I know it means a lot to him. It crushed him to be sent down. But he went down, did his work and waited for the next opportunity.
“His immediate impact just lifted the entire team.”
Ibanez credited the coaching staff at Toledo, especially hitting coach Mike Hessman, for getting him right.
“I was very happy when I got the call,” Ibanez said through interpreter Carlos Guillen. “You know how hard it is when you get sent down, it’s hard for you to stay positive. But I have to give a big shoutout to my coaches down there for all the work we put in together to get me back. I’m happy because we won the game and I’m happy about my performance.”
Hessman showed Ibanez some video from 2023 when Ibanez stood closer to the plate.
“I did change my approach,” he said. “I went back to how I was in 2023 when I was standing more on the plate. That’s made a difference.”
Dingler ended up with three hits. He singled and scored on a Matt Vierling double in the fourth inning and then whacked his ninth homer of the season in the sixth.
Scary moment in the game came in the ninth inning. Eugenio Suarez, the former Tiger who is arguably the most sought-after hitter on the trade market right now, took a 96-mph fastball from Will Vest that seemed to carom off his shoulder onto his right hand.
He yelped in pain with the trainer tried to move his right index finger and he left the game. X-rays taken afterwards were negative.
“Good thing right now is we did the X-ray, and it was negative,” Suarez told reporters in the Arizona clubhouse. “We got more tests to do tomorrow. Right now, it’s painful, obviously. … We’ll see after tomorrow what else they’re going to do. But right now, I’ll do my best to try to be back soon.”
Suarez has 36 homers and the Tigers are believed to be one of the teams at least in the conversation for his services.
“Really hope Geno is OK,” said Hinch, unprompted at the end of his press conference. “That was a nasty inside pitch. I don’t know what’s going to come of that. I know he’s well-loved in this organization and in that (Arizona) organization and every organization he’s been in. That was an ugly sound at then end for a very popular and talented guy.
“Let’s all pray for the best.”
The Tigers (62-46) won back-to-back games for the first time since July 7-8 against Tampa.
@cmccosky