For eight innings Friday in Anaheim, the Detroit Tigers were being quietly pitched out of their second-half opener. Then Hao-Yu Lee lined a two-out, two-run double to center off Kirby Yates in the ninth, and a 1-0 deficit became a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
The game was the kind of pitching duel that rewards patience. Reid Detmers gave the Angels six scoreless innings on four hits, no walks and seven strikeouts, protecting the run Los Angeles scratched out in the first on Josh Lowe’s bases-loaded groundout. Detroit’s side was just as good: Troy Melton struck out nine over 5.2 innings, allowing four hits and the lone run while working around four walks, and Keider Montero was near-perfect behind him — 3.1 innings, one hit, no walks, five strikeouts on just 43 pitches to earn the win.
The ninth came together the way these games often do, one base at a time. Dillon Dingler was hit by a pitch, Riley Greene walked with one out, and after a flyout left the rally down to its last strike of consequence, Lee — who also drove a review at the wall — doubled home pinch-runner James Outman and Greene. Yates, whom this site examined last week as the Angels’ clearest trade chip, took the loss.
Detroit is 45-52 and still 6.5 back in the AL Central, but the club has won seven of ten, and nights like this show why the pitching gives them a floor: two pitchers, five hits allowed, one run. The offense managed six hits and went quiet against Detmers, which remains the recurring concern. The Tigers get two more in Anaheim this weekend against a 38-60 Angels team that has lost three straight.
For fantasy managers, Melton is the name to act on. Nine strikeouts in under six innings against a big-league lineup plays in any format, and he has now stacked quality work in consecutive starts. Lee is worth monitoring in AL-only leagues while he keeps taking high-leverage at-bats, and Montero’s multi-inning relief role makes him a sneaky source of wins and ratios in deep leagues.
