Troy Melton posted another great start and is closing in on his Detroit Tigers’ debut now. His teammates didn’t have much more luck against Clippers pitching than they did with the Hens, but a ninth inning rally was enough to win on Saturday.
Melton allowed just two hits and no walks across six scoreless innings. He collected 14 whiffs, most of his fastball and slider, while punching out seven hitters. The Tigers still didn’t let him stretch out much. It was an extremely efficient outing with 48 of 63 pitches for strikes. It’s fair to say that Melton is acclimated to the major league baseball now, and there is no chance that the Tigers are going to let him waste bullets in the Mud Hens rotation too much longer, but for the time being it’s worth keeping him stretched out in case of emergency.