BALTIMORE -- Troy Melton’s return from the injured list came not a moment too soon for the Tigers.
Melton (1-0) pitched 5 2/3 innings of two-hit, one-run ball in his season debut, and the Tigers defeated the Orioles 4-1 on Sunday evening to snap an eight-game losing streak and salvage the back end of a split doubleheader at Camden Yards.
“It’s no secret we haven’t been playing our best,” Melton said. “It’s hard. We’re going through a hard part of our season right now. And hopefully we can keep building off this one and putting ourselves in good position for the rest of the season.”
Dillon Dingler clubbed his 10th home run to stake Detroit to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, and Kevin McGonigle’s fifth-inning single plated two runs and chased Orioles starter Trevor Rogers.
And after a crushing collapse in Sunday’s early 5-3 loss, capped by the third walk-off home run allowed by Kenley Jansen this season, this time the bullpen held. Tyler Holton backed up Melton with 1 1/3 innings, and Drew Anderson worked two innings for his second save.
“Obviously, no one was happy about it,” McGonigle said of the early game. “But the biggest thing I think was after the game, everyone was prepared for the next game. And I think we did a great job going out and using that to fuel us to go into the next game and win.”
That was enough for the Tigers to avoid their first nine-game slide since June 2-11, 2023. Detroit still extended another dubious run in its 11th consecutive game with seven hits or fewer, extending a franchise record that was set in the early game.
That mark helps explain the back half of an ugly extended 3-16 stretch that sees Detroit (21-33) occupying last in the AL Central at the proverbial Memorial Day threshold, 10 1/2 games behind the division-leading Guardians.
The win doesn’t wipe away the bigger picture. But maybe it sets the table for a reversal.
“We need to go home and capitalize on a little bit of this, you know, good vibes that are going on. The music's playing, the guys are excited,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch. “We're used to that, we just haven't had that in a while.”
The 25-year-old Melton was shut down early in Spring Training due to inflammation in his right throwing elbow, then made four starts during a rehab assignment that began early this month.
Despite three walks and a buildup a bit shy of a typical Spring Training workload, Melton showed impressive efficiency in his fifth career big league start, navigating 22 batters faced on 79 pitches.
He required only seven to retire the side in the third and 10 to get through the fifth. Permitted to face the top of Baltimore’s order a third time in the sixth inning, he fanned Gunnar Henderson (again) and induced Pete Alonso into a flyout before Hinch summoned Holton.
“Honestly, there were some things that I think I really didn’t do very well,” Melton said. “I didn’t get into counts particularly well with three walks too many for my liking. And a leadoff walk that came back to score was the only run.
“Definitely some things to clean up. Obviously, can’t be too mad at the result.”
The Tigers' lineup was nearly as efficient in taking a confidence-boosting early lead.
Matt Vierling followed a three-hit performance in the early game with a leadoff single, and two batters later, Dingler got all of Rogers’ 2-1 cutter to send it beyond the left-field wall.
In the fifth, it was time for a more labor-intensive approach, as McGonigle worked a seven-pitch at-bat off Rogers that finished with a single dumped into shallow center that extended the rookie’s on-base streak to 10 games.
“I got to 3-2, and he threw me a changeup when I thought it was going to be a heater, but I was still able to push it out to center field,” McGonigle said.