DETROIT -- Troy Melton has quickly earned a reputation as a cool customer in his brief time with the Tigers. He has a breathing exercise that he practices in the dugout between innings to keep himself calm and focused. He rarely ever shows emotion on the mound, no matter how his game is going.
Still, as Taylor Trammell’s sixth-inning drive soared down the right-field line towards the foul pole, Melton couldn’t help but lean to his right, trying to will the elements to lend him a hand.
“I didn’t think it was going foul. I was hoping it was going foul,” Melton said. “It wasn’t a cheap homer. Just really hoping the wind took it somewhere or something happened weird in flight.”
It was the first blemish on Melton’s line all evening; he had retired Houston’s first 16 batters in order, with only a Yordan Alvarez fly ball to the left-field wall for solid contact. Yet as Trammell rounded the bases on his 422-foot solo homer, it felt like a crushing blow for more than Melton’s perfect outing. The way the Tigers’ week has been going, the way Tatsuya Imai had quieted Detroit’s offense all evening, even a one-run lead felt difficult to overcome.
In the end, Dillon Dingler’s 432-foot homer to center off Enyel De Los Santos in the ninth nullified Trammell’s mighty drive. The difference in the Tigers’ 2-1 loss was Houston’s manufactured run in the top of the ninth off Kenley Jansen. Sluggers Alvarez and Isaac Paredes brought Jeremy Peña home with productive outs following Peña’s leadoff single.
Alvarez has a chance to become the first Triple Crown winner since Miguel Cabrera in 2012. The Tigers held him hitless, and he still found a way to beat them.
This is how it feels for the Tigers over the last few days. After winning four in a row over projected playoff teams, they’ve lost three straight, all by two runs or fewer, all with the potential tying run on base or at the plate.
“I don’t think it’s tougher on our psyche,” manager A.J. Hinch said, “because I think our psyche is in battle mode right now no matter what. I don’t think that we can let up in any way, and we haven’t.”
Just as the conditions weren’t working in Melton’s favor on Trammell’s drive, the October winds seem to be blowing against Detroit at a time when they need to close distance quickly. They haven’t fallen out of it -- still five games out of a Wild Card spot, thanks to a Blue Jays loss, but eight games back in the AL Central -- though they’ve missed opportunities to make up ground. Such is the predicament of climbing out of the hole they’ve dug.
“All of us are grinding, trying to get wins,” said Colt Keith, whose ground ball down the first-base line turned into a game-ending double play. “We know the situation we’re in. We’re not dumb. We just want to go out and get wins every night.”
For six innings, Melton gave them a chance. For a pitcher with such a calm heart rate, he came out pitching like he was amped up, including a pair of 98 and 99 mph fastballs to Paredes to end the opening inning.
“Yesterday, I did something really small mechanically,” said Melton, who later explained that he worked on being more upright in his delivery after finding himself leaning back. “Definitely came out with a little more emphasis on [the] first inning. They’ve been my worst inning, probably. I think just setting a tone from there was key for me, and it was easy to keep that momentum rolling rather than trying to reach back when I want extra.”
Melton’s season high in strikeouts was five, which he reached in each of his last three outings. He matched that by his first trip through the Houston order, having fanned five of his first nine batters.
Melton said he thought about the possibility of a perfect game as early as the third inning. With 75 pitches thrown through the fifth, any chance of Melton going the distance was gone. But he was trading zeros nonetheless with Imai, who held the Tigers to two singles and a walk through six innings.
Melton’s six strikeouts fell one shy of his career high from his MLB debut in Pittsburgh last July. His 15 swinging strikes – five on a fastball that averaged 97.3 mph, five more on a cutter that averaged well above his season average -- showed the swing-and-miss stuff he and the Tigers had been seeking since last fall.
“High velo, high cutter velo, movement,” Hinch said. “When they would show the replay, there was some pretty big miss in there. That’s a hard team to get to miss.”
It’s also a tough time for a missed opportunity.