SEATTLE – The last time the Detroit Tigers played here at T-Mobile Park, their season ended in the ALDS after 15 grueling innings. Not that they were worried about returning to the scene of last season’s postseason heartbreak.
They’re worried about other things now, like catching the teams ahead of them in the Wild Card race in the American League. Well, one of the teams that was ahead of them.
Because after the Tigers beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-0, on Tuesday, Aug. 4., the Tigers (55-58) had jumped half a game ahead of the Mariners (55-59), to get within 1½ games of the Cleveland Guardians in the final American League wild-card spot. (Between the Tigers and the Guardians: The Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers at one game back, and the Baltimore Orioles, tied with Detroit.) That obviously doesn’t undo what happened last October, but it does build on the sweep of the Athletics, and it did keep the Tigers’ recent offensive outburst well, bursting.
Their eight runs marked the sixth straight game the Tigers reached that number, tied for the longest streak in franchise history, and done for the first time since a run from July 4-8, 1927. As it turned out, the Tigers only needed one run, though, thanks to another dominant performance from right-hander Troy Melton.
Melton would have the second best ERA in baseball, if he qualified for the title, and continues to look like a future ace.
At the plate: It’s Riley Greene’s day
Riley Greene scuffled a little bit in West Sacramento, California, and frankly, had been chasing and lunging a touch before that. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch gave him a day off in that heat and acknowledged that his All-star slugger was wearing a touch.
The mini-break – the Tigers were also off Monday – gave Greene a nice little breather, and when he stepped to the plate in the fifth and jacked a deep, towering fly ball to center, it wasn’t surprising the ball kept carrying, eventually, over the center-field wall for an insurance run, making it 4-0.
Greene helped get the scoring started in a roundabout way in the top of the third inning, too. After Emerson Hancock stymied the Tigers in the first couple innings, Zach McKinstry led off the third with a double.
McKinstry later tried to score from third on a grounder to short and was thrown out at the plate. That was the second out. Then Dillon Dingler singled. And Greene hit a grounder to short, which could have ended the inning – but Mariners rookie Colt Emerson rushed the throw and air-mailed it past first, allowing Gleyber Torres to score.
Colt Keith, another Tigers who has been picking it up, then singled home Dingler and Greene, with the later diving headfirst for the third run in the third. and that was essentially the game.
Torres hit a two-run home run in the ninth. Dingler, the next batter, added a solo home run for good measure.
And on it went.
On the mound: Troy Melton is a horse
Melton hadn’t allowed more than two runs in seven starts entering Tuesday’s outing. It would have been surprising if he’d stopped that streak here at T-Mobile, a park he seems to enjoy. He had a memorable showing during Game 5 here in the postseason last fall during the 15-inning marathon, throwing an inning of scoreless relief.
But it’s not just that he seems to like this park – he’s pitching this way against everyone this season, and is expanding his arsenal as he goes. And if one pitch isn’t quite locating as he’d like, he can use a handful of others.
His cutter missed a few times Tuesday when he was ahead in the count, so he came back with his high-90s four-seamer or used his splitter, like he did in the fourth to get out of trouble.
With runners at first and second and one out, Melton struck out Tigers nemesis Josh Naylor with a 91-mph splitter, a pitch that fell off the shelf so drastically that Naylor just shook his head as he gathered himself to walk back to the dugout.
And when he used the same pitch to strike out 2025 All-Star Cal Raleigh, Melton pumped his fist as he walked off the mound. Melton doesn’t tend to show a lot of emotion on the mound, which worked well for him during the stretch run a season ago and has helped keep him steady through his ascension this season.
Clearly, though, it is in there, and with Tarik Skubal now a Los Angeles Dodger, it may begin to leak out a little more here and there.
Jacob Waguespack pitched a scoreless, hitless eighth and Yilber Diaz, called up from Triple-A Toledo this week and making only his second major league start, closed it with a scoreless ninth (albeit with a couple runners) and struck out the final batter on a call overturned by Dingler’s ABS challenge.
Next up: Win, lose or Drew?
Drew Anderson gets the start on Wednesday (9:40 p.m., Detroit SportsNet), and the hope is he’ll be able to throw enough innings to keep it from turning into a traditional “bullpen game.” Anderson has been a spot starter a few times and has a chance to go long as Hinch figures out the rotation without Skubal and Casey Mize.
Framber Valdez is the starter for the series finale Thursday (4:05 p.m.). The left-hander has been inconsistent this season, though he went seven innings against the struggling Athletics last weekend. That was his second seven-inning outing in his past four starts.
Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tigers continue assault at the plate to back Troy Melton gem
Reporting by Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
