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Melancon on upswing, but keeps balanced perspective

"Would the Bucs benefit from having someone other than Mark Melancon close games?"

To bring you up to date, since then, Kang has hit .429, including Sunday's two biggest hits.

And Melancon has been virtually flawless in his eight outings since, converting five consecutive saves while facing a total of only 28 men to get the 24 outs.

"It was good to see [Melancon] finish things off," manager Clint Hurdle said. "It's a vote of confidence for the team. They believe in him, and when he goes out there to get things done, he's got to feel better about how things finish.