DETROIT -- The Tigers used to make a major clubhouse celebration out of a pitcher’s first win or first save, finding any substance they could in the kitchen and bathroom and dumping it on the player in recognition of his first big accomplishment in The Show. Usually, the player doesn’t know what hit them because they have to close their eyes.
For a while, it was a regular occurrence as Detroit brought up one pitching prospect after another. They haven’t had many celebrations this season, in part because of the lack of debuts. But when Troy Melton left the field Monday after seven scoreless innings -- his longest outing in pro baseball -- to a standing ovation from the Comerica Park crowd and a hug from manager A.J. Hinch, he had no idea what was coming at the end of the 5-1 win over the Diamondbacks.
Asked what hit him when he walked into the clubhouse, Melton said, “I don’t even know, honestly. A lot of stuff. Whatever they could find in the kitchen, I think.”
The outburst of joy was a much-needed panacea for the Tigers on a difficult day, albeit a victorious one. While Melton talked with reporters about his victory and his impressive arsenal, Reese Olson quietly grabbed his backpack a couple of lockers down and headed out, waiting for tests on Tuesday that could let him know if he has any hope of pitching again this season.
News of Olson’s shoulder strain, just over a month after Jackson Jobe’s Tommy John surgery, hit the Tigers like a rock and put a formidable Detroit rotation again in flux. The Tigers quickly traded for Chris Paddack from the Twins on Monday to fill Olson’s rotation slot. Paddack has been more of an innings eater this season, but Melton’s arsenal provides more of the strikeout potential that the Tigers saw in Olson.
That doesn’t mean the Tigers won’t gauge the trade market for additional starting help, but the more Melton pitches, the more he looks like someone who could have a big impact on the stretch run and the postseason, whether he fills out the rotation or eventually moves into a bullpen role as a high-powered reliever. Experience helps in October, but stuff plays.
On Monday, the 24-year-old Melton had the mound presence more fitting of a veteran Trade Deadline addition than a just-promoted rookie making just his eighth start above Double-A.
“Honestly, that’s one of the things I had to learn in professional baseball, being a little less emotional and taking things pitch by pitch,” he said. “It’s a very conscious effort, but it’s something I’m proud of.”
Melton retired the Diamondbacks in order in just two innings, but he held Arizona to five singles, none of them in the same inning. Corbin Carroll, who led off the game with a single and moved to second on a Ketel Marte groundout, was the only runner to reach scoring position.
While Melton, the Tigers' No. 6 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, cranked up his high-powered fastball to 98 miles per hour, spotted his cutter for strikes against Arizona’s many left-handed and switch-hitters, and mixed in his slider for both whiffs and called strikes to create a combination that Arizona hitters struggled to figure out. Melton recorded three inning-ending strikeouts, including a slider past Eugenio Suárez to strand Carroll in the opening inning and a 98 mph heater past Tristin English to start a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play that ended the second inning.
“He has a ton of different shapes that are really, really good,” said catcher Dillon Dingler, whose home run off former Tigers ace Eduardo Rodriguez helped support his starter. “It was fully on display today. He did a great job of commanding his heater, cutter backdoor, slider down. It was a lot of fun.”
Just as important, Melton learned from his debut and avoided the walks that set up the grand slam that doomed his debut. Just two of the 24 hitters he faced reached three-ball counts, and both were retired, including Adrian Del Castillo on a double-play grounder to erase Suárez following his leadoff single in the seventh.
“I think early in his outing in Pittsburgh, he was jumping off the rubber a little bit, he was doing a little bit too much,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “But generally speaking, because he has a calm heartbeat, he can execute a game plan. And with all of the different options that he and Ding had to go to against this lineup, he can generate a lot of quick outs and also escape some issues because of the power in his stuff.”
In so doing, Melton became the third consecutive Tigers starter to toss six or more scoreless innings, joining Tarik Skubal and Jack Flaherty. It’s just the third such streak in franchise history, and the first since 1949.