ST. PETERSBURG, FL – Almost every Detroit Tigers hitter looks improved through three games in June, but Dillon Dinger continues to go above and beyond. He put the Tigers on his back for a sweep of one of MLB’s best teams.
The Tigers scored in each of the first four innings en route to a 7-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, June 3, in the finale of the three-game series at Tropicana Field, sweeping the series for a three-game winning streak.
It’s the first sweep for the Tigers since April 14-16.
Dingler hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning.
Facing the Rays, Dingler hit .462 (6-for-13) with three home runs and nine RBIs across 14 plate appearances. The 27-year-old drove in four runs apiece in Monday’s opener and Wednesday’s finale.
He is hitting .241 with 14 homers and an .830 OPS in 56 games.
The Tigers improved to 25-38, while the Rays, who entered Wednesday with the best record in the American League, dropped to 36-23. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Tigers are 10½ games behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central.
More importantly, the Tigers experienced a run-scoring breakthrough at Tropicana Field.
The offense scored 81 runs (with 18 home runs) through 28 games in May, only to score 25 runs (with 10 home runs) in the first three games in June.
On the mound
Right-hander Troy Melton struggled early on.
But he dominated throughout the middle and late innings.
The 25-year-old didn’t throw a first-pitch strike to the first eight batters he faced, and the Rays took advantage of his command issues by scoring one run apiece in a 19-pitch first inning and a 17-pitch second inning.
The result of those runs: The Rays tied the game, 1-1, on Yandy Díaz’s RBI single in the first and tied the game again, 2-2, on Cedric Mullins’ solo home run in the second.
Melton suddenly threw a first-pitch strike for the first time to Victor Mesa Jr., immediately following Mullins’s homer and Nick Fortes’ single.
He faced the minimum 21 batters after Fortes’ single, needing 14 pitches in the third inning, 10 in the fourth, eight in the fifth, six in the sixth and eight in the seventh and 12 in the eighth.
His only blemish during that stretch came on a leadoff walk to Jonathan Aranda in the third inning, losing a nine-pitch battle. He bounced back by erasing Aranda on the bases with a double play, then he struck out Richie Palacios.
Melton owns a 1.74 ERA in three starts since returning May 24 from the injured list after suffering right elbow inflammation in spring training.
At the plate
The story continues to be the offense.
It’s a small sample size, but the Tigers keep hitting in June.
The Tigers grabbed the lead in the first inning for the fourth game in a row, courtesy of Gleyber Torres’ leadoff double and Dingler’s RBI single.
Torres attacked a first-pitch cutter from right-hander Nick Martinez in his second game since returning from the injured list, recovering from a left oblique strain.
Martinez allowed six runs on nine hits and one walk with one strikeout across four innings, throwing 58 pitches. He hadn’t allowed more than two runs in his first 11 starts, entering Wednesday with a 1.62 ERA.
He now has a 2.29 ERA after his 12th start.
After taking a 1-0 lead, the Tigers made it 2-1 in the second on Jake Rogers’ home run and 3-2 in the third on Spencer Torkelson’s sacrifice fly.
The big swing occurred in the fourth inning.
Singles from Matt Vierling and Torres put two runners on for Dingler with two outs, and, with two strikes, he pulled Martinez’s middle-away cutter for a three-run home run.
It put the Tigers ahead, 6-2.
A sacrifice fly from Kerry Carpenter extended the Tigers’ lead to 7-2 in the ninth inning.
Next up: Comerica Park
The six-game road trip is in the books.
The Tigers have an off day Thursday – with another off day approaching on Monday – as they return home to Comerica Park for a three-game series against the AL West-leading Seattle Mariners, beginning Friday (6:40 p.m., Detroit SportsNet).
The probable pitchers for the series: left-hander Framber Valdez on Friday, right-hander Keider Montero on Saturday and right-hander Jack Flaherty on Sunday.
For the Mariners, All-Star right-hander Bryan Woo is scheduled to start Friday’s opener.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers sweep Tampa Bay Rays in win as Dillon Dingler stays hot
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
