Troy Melton has a 1.80 ERA in nine starts and the Tigers bullpen in July has a sub-3 ERA. ThatтАЩs bad news for the Royals, who have won five of six but will be missing guys for this one, including Bobby Witt Jr. KC has scored three runs or less in five straight road games. Detroit is on a 9-4 run; itтАЩs scored six total runs in the four defeats and averaged six runs in the wins. KC starter Randy Dobnak has a 1.93 ERA but a 1.50 WHIP, signifying a little luck on his side so far. HeтАЩll only go 4-5 innings and hand the ball to a bullpen with a 6.82 ERA the last two weeks.
Troy Melton has been a godsend for Detroit (7-2 in his nine starts) and faces a Royals team without Bobby Witt. Jr. and which is 17-33 on the road. I'm on the Tigers a few ways tonight on a weird MLB slate. This is a game they simply can't lose and hope to make a realistic playoff push. Win here, Tarik Skubal goes Friday and Casey Mize on Saturday against this bad opponent, and the Tigers might be rolling suddenly.
Melton has struck out 6, 7, 9 and 9 batters in his last four games, respectively. He's been dominant all year with a 1.80 ERA in nine starts and the Royals haven't seen him. Plus, the Royals are without Bobby Witt Jr.
The Rockies returned Rule 5 pick Petit (elbow) to the Tigers on Tuesday.
The Royals transferred Cruz (personal) from the paternity list to the restricted list Sunday.
Flaherty (forearm) was reinstated from the 15-day injured list Sunday and struck out one batter while allowing one hit and no walks over two scoreless innings in the Tigers' 4-2 loss to the Pirates in the season finale.
The Tigers optioned Hurter to the rookie-level Florida Complex League on Sunday.
Madden tossed three scoreless innings of relief with three strikeouts in Sunday's 4-2 loss to the Pirates.
Valencia went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Sunday's 4-2 loss to the Pirates.
Ryan (0-1) took the loss against the Pirates on Sunday, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks with three strikeouts over 1.1 innings.
McGonigle went 2-for-3 with a solo home run in Sunday's 4-2 loss to the Pirates.
Erceg allowed a hit and struck out one over a scoreless inning to earn the save in Sunday's 3-2 win over the Guardians.
Pasquantino went 2-for-4 with a pair of solo home runs in Sunday's 3-2 win over the Guardians.
