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SEATTLE — No one asked Troy Melton to step into the shoes of a departed ace. It wasn't his responsibility to assume the mantle of staff leader after Tarik Skubal's exit. Yet, his performance on the mound Tuesday suggested he's embracing the challenge.
Melton was exceptional, tossing seven shutout innings while allowing just three hits in the Tigers' 8-0 rout of the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. The victory lifted Detroit (55-58) to five games back in the AL Central and pulled them even with Seattle for the final Wild Card spot, just 1.5 games behind the leaders.
With the effort, Melton lowered his ERA to 1.58 across 12 starts this season. The Tigers have won 10 of those games, and he has allowed two runs or fewer in every single one. Since his return to the majors on May 24, only Jacob Misiorowski (1.41) boasts a lower ERA among pitchers with at least 50 innings. His 1.58 ERA through his first 12 starts is the second-lowest in franchise history to begin a season, trailing only Doyle Alexander's 1.53 mark in 1987.
Seattle managed just two hard-hit balls off Melton, with no extra-base hits. The 18 balls put in play left bats at an average exit velocity of 82.5 mph. The lone threat came in the fourth inning when Randy Arozarena singled and Julio Rodriguez walked on eight pitches with one out. The inning was preserved by a spectacular running catch from Max Clark in center field, who covered 121 feet at an elite sprint speed of 30 feet per second, snaring a sinking liner on a slide. Melton then struck out Josh Naylor and Cal Raleigh with nasty splitters.
Melton relied heavily on his splitter and cutter, complementing a four-seam fastball that sat at 96 mph and frequently touched 98. He capped his outing by breaking Brendan Donovan's bat on a soft liner back to the mound.
The Tigers broke the game open with a two-out rally in the third. Zach McKinstry led off with a double but was thrown out at home on a grounder by Gleyber Torres. However, consecutive singles from Dillon Dingler, Riley Greene, and Colt Keith, coupled with a throwing error, produced three quick runs. Keith, who finished with three hits, drove in two with a single that saw Greene race home from second to beat a strong throw from right fielder Dominic Calzone.
Greene, snapping an 0-for-15 skid, launched his 16th home run of the season with two outs in the fifth, jumping on a first-pitch changeup from Mariners right-hander Emerson Hancock. The ball left his bat at 104.9 mph and traveled 403 feet into the right-center bleachers.
The Tigers added four more runs in the ninth off Seranthony Dominguez, who was nearly acquired by Detroit before the trade deadline. Torres slugged his seventh homer, a two-run shot to left, and Dingler followed with his 24th to right-center. Dominguez faced six batters and recorded just one out in his Mariners debut.
This marked the sixth consecutive game in which Detroit scored at least eight runs, tying a club record last achieved in 1927. It was also the team's 11th shutout of the season, third-most in baseball. The Tigers improved to 33-20 since June 1.
Originally reported by yahoo.