Tigers hope for happy homecoming for Troy Melton against Angels

Right-hander Troy Melton will make his first career start against his hometown team when the Detroit Tigers open a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night in Anaheim, Calif.

The hard-throwing Melton (5-1, 1.82 ERA) went to high school at Canyon High School in Anaheim Hills, about a 10-minute drive from Anaheim Stadium. He has been one of the few bright spots during a disappointing 44-52 start for the Tigers.

A fourth-round pick out of San Diego State in 2022, Melton has emerged as a potential front-line starter, allowing just two earned runs on nine hits over 23 2/3 innings with 27 strikeouts over his past four starts. His 2.19 ERA as a starter is the lowest by a Tiger through his first 12 career starts since Mark "The Bird" Fidrych posted a 1.62 ERA during his memorable rookie season in 1976.

Melton has yet to allow an earned run in two July starts. He allowed no runs on two hits with seven strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings in a 6-2 victory over New York at Yankee Stadium on July 1 and followed that up by allowing one unearned run on four hits in 5 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts in a 6-1 victory over the Athletics on July 8.

"Two to three different fastballs," A's manager Mark Kotsay said afterward. "The slider off the cutter is a really good pitch. We took some bad swings tonight at that pitch. He's been pretty dominant all season when he goes out there and starts."

"It's such a hard combo when you have four-seam, two-seam, then you have a hard, almost-slider that's a cutter, and then a big slider," catcher Jake Rogers said. "So you see spin and wonder, ‘Is it going to be a big spin? Is it going to be a little spin?' It speaks that he's been doing a really good job mixing those two. You have to pick one, and he's been picking right of late."

This will be Melton's second career appearance against the Angels. He picked up the win in relief on Aug. 8 last season in Detroit when he allowed two hits, including a solo homer by Jo Adell, in 3 1/3 innings with no walks and two strikeouts.

It's the start of a six-game road trip and a stretch of 13 games in 13 days for Detroit. The Tigers, just 17-29 on the road, went 9-3 before the All-Star break to close to within 3 1/2 games of the final wild-card spot in the American League.

Los Angeles, expected to toss lefty Reid Detmers (3-6, 4.39) on Friday, is tied with Kansas City for the worst record in baseball (38-59), and won just two of its final 12 games before the break. The Angels, 10 games out of a wild-card spot, play 12 of their next 15 games at home with the lone road trip just up the coast in San Francisco.

The big question for Los Angeles going into the next three weeks is if interim general manager John Mozeliak will get busy revamping his team before the Aug. 3 trade deadline. Starters Detmers and Jose Soriano and relievers Ryan Zeferjahn and Kirby Yates are among the players rumored to potentially be on the market.

Soriano took the loss in the Angels' final game before the All-Star break, a 4-2 loss at Minnesota. Soriano, who had a 0.24 ERA after his first six starts of the season, has a 5.15 ERA in 14 starts since.

"I think (at) some point I'm going to get back to what it was," Soriano told the Orange County Register. "Just continue working hard. I think that's the goal, for me to get back to what I was."

--Field Level Media