DETROIT -- Troy Melton rarely shows much emotion on the mound or in the dugout, reflecting his cool California personality. He has been known to carry the look of calm sitting in the dugout between innings, like a form of meditation.
After coming off the mound Monday afternoon with two outs in the sixth inning, however, having given up a two-run double to Twins rookie Walker Jenkins, Melton sat down and slammed his glove against the dugout bench in frustration, reminiscent of a young Tarik Skubal.
The Tigers were still in front, but only by a run. And after three walk-off losses in Cleveland over the weekend, the Tigers didn’t want to watch a lead slip away again.
“I think that’s why it’s so frustrating; it’s always close like that,” Melton explained after Detroit’s 5-4 victory. “The game is won and lost on margins like that. I have to make better pitches there in that at-bat.”
Melton wasn’t the only one. Two innings later, Drew Sommers could only shake his head after his attempt at Luke Keaschall’s comebacker deflected the ball into open infeld between first and second base. Not only was the inning not over, the potential tying run moved from first to third. Sommers was still shaking his head after retiring Brooks Lee on a fly ball to right to end the threat.
To say the Tigers needed this one was an understatement, which made center fielder Max Clark’s steadiness on Ryan Jeffers’ ninth-inning drive a source of calm against panic.
The groans from the crowd were audible as Jeffers took Kenley Jansen’s cutter to the depths of Comerica Park’s left-center field. Former Tiger Kody Clemens, whose leadoff walk two pitches earlier had put the potential tying run on base, was nearly to second base as Jeffers’ ball kept carrying.
Everyone seemed to think the ball was headed out, except Clark.
“That area was a graveyard today,” said Clark, who noted the wind was blowing in for much of the day before dying down in the late innings.
The calm winds sent Clark backpedaling a little more than he expected, but he said he knew he had it.
“Unfortunately we’re in the wrong ballpark for the ball Jeffers hit at the end,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “Because that ball is straight flushed on. But it’s the biggest ballpark in baseball in center field, and doesn’t get out.”
The projected 411-foot drive was Jansen’s longest out since Statcast began tracking in 2015. It would’ve been a home run in 17 other Major League parks.
“I think we moved the fence in just the perfect amount,” manager A.J. Hinch said.
They needed that.
It’s not that they needed luck; they needed reward.
For all the frustration over the walk-off losses in Cleveland, the Tigers played well for much of the series. The only times they trailed all series was at the end of the three games. They didn’t throw a single pitch at Progressive Field when trailing. They threw just three on Monday, when Melton recovered from a run-scoring fielder’s choice in the opening inning to get an inning-ending double play, sending the Tigers to the plate for McGonigle’s game-tying homer in the bottom of the inning.
“It was nice to answer back right away,” said McGonigle, whose first homer since Aug. 23 ended a 6-for-43 slump over his previous 11 games. “It’s also nice to see one leave.”
The Tigers hadn’t trailed in-game since last Tuesday, when the Twins roughed up Melton at Target Field. Melton, who gave up a season-high seven runs (five earned) that night, kept Minnesota’s offense relatively contained until the end, recovering from a first-inning run and Trevor Larnach’s fourth-inning solo homer. Melton retired his first two batters in the sixth, then he was an out away from a quality start when back-to-back singles from Larnach and Kaelen Culpepper extended the inning for Jenkins.
“It definitely adds to the frustration,” Melton said, “because if I get [Jenkins] out, it’s a much different look and feel for me than how it ended. But that’s just how baseball is.”
In the end, the Tigers earned their first one-run victory since McGonigle walked off the Dodgers on Aug. 29. Riley Greene’s two-run homer, his third home run in as many days, ended up being the difference. And Jansen, who had paid for stolen bases in Cleveland, held Clemens long enough to get a game-ending double play for his 18th save of the season and 494th of his career.
“Yeah, a close win feels a little extra today,” Hinch said. “We’ve been punched in the gut quite a bit recently.”