The Detroit Tigers are back home Monday to open a three-game weekday series against the Minnesota Twins, and Troy Melton gets the ball in the first game. The 25-year-old right-hander is scheduled to start Game 144 at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan, with first pitch set for 3:10 p.m. ET.
That assignment comes after a rough weekend and a rougher stretch for Melton. The Tigers dropped three of four games to the Cleveland Guardians, and three of those losses came on walk-off hits at Progressive Field. Detroit has now lost six of its last eight games, which makes the opener against Minnesota feel less like a routine return home and more like a chance to steady the season.
Melton’s recent numbers explain why the matchup is drawing attention. Over his last four starts, he has a 4.84 ERA and a 5.02 FIP, and those outings led to three personal losses and four losses for the team. Against the Twins this summer, he has been hit much harder. In two starts, Melton posted a 7.84 ERA and a 10.05 FIP over 10 1/3 innings, allowing six home runs and hitting two batters.
That is the edge Detroit is carrying into the opener: a starter who has shown enough to keep getting the ball, but not enough lately to quiet the concern around him. The Tigers are also facing a Minnesota club that had not announced a starter as of Sunday night, leaving the pitching matchup only half-set heading into Labor Day.
The game is listed as Game 144, and it lands at a point in the season where every start starts to matter more. Melton has already taken his lumps against Minnesota once, then again, and now he gets a third look in front of a home crowd that just watched Detroit leave the road with more frustration than momentum. Monday will show whether this is a temporary bump for Melton or the shape of the stretch that follows him into September.
