Troy Melton goes seven in Tigers’ shutout of O’s

The versatile 23-year-old has been really struggling the plate over the past few weeks, slashing .212/.241/.288 with zero homers and one RBI over 54 plate appearances in his last 15 games. Graham Pauley will man the hot corner for the Marlins and bat eighth against Mets’ right-hander Nolan McLean.

It is notable that the Royals didn’t turn to nominal closer Alex Lange in a save situation after he blew Tuesday’s game. It didn’t work out very well for Matt Quatraro, who had Lucas Erceg load the bases while getting two outs in a 3-0 game and then had Strahm unload them. It’s hard to be confident about any closer emerging here down the stretch, though it’s a bit surprising they haven’t at least dabbled with Daniel Lynch IV in the role since he’s the only Royals reliever who has been appreciably good this year.

The Royals weirdly decided to get cute in the ninth inning of a 3-0 game, turning it over to season-long gascan Lucas Erceg. Erceg loaded the bases with two outs, gave way to Matt Strahm, and Strahm then allowed Clemens to walk off the Royals in embarrassing fashion with a 407-foot bomb to right-center against his slider. Clemens has enough power to be an interesting player in fantasy leagues, with eight homers over his last 30 games and a .513 slugging percentage, but he’s a career .218 hitter so don’t expect batting average miracles.

Caglianone jerked a Bailey Ober slider a mere 438 feet into Target Field’s right field stands and that stood up for most of the game with Noah Cameron firing eight scoreless innings. Caglianone had been in a bit of a slump since hurting his shoulder -- this is his first homer in his last seven games -- but it was a very loud sign that he may be back on track.

And he didn’t manage to win the game, somehow, because baseball’s funny like that. Cameron was through six innings with a no-hitter but allowed a dunk single in front of an outfielder to Ryan Jeffers. No matter, Cameron went right back to dominating as he got six straight outs to end his start. Like his start last week, Cameron showed a tick higher on his fastball (maxing at 94.9 mph) and managed a 33 percent whiff rate. Things have looked much better for him of late. He also gets the Twins again next week, so assuming Byron Buxton is still out, that should be another tasty matchup.

Ober was able to generate nine whiffs on 28 swings against his non-fastballs and hold the Royals to six hard-hit balls. The bad news is that one of those hard-hit balls, from Jac Caglianone, still hasn’t landed yet. This is about the best you could have hoped for from Ober, who lines up for a rematch against the Royals next Wednesday assuming nothing that happens at the trade deadline scuttles that.

Riley had a two-homer game against the Rangers on July 19, and since then he’s hit .162/.225/.189 with no homers and one stolen base. Riley hasn’t been good all season and it wouldn’t be surprising if the Braves started to cut his playing time down the stretch, though there’s nothing to suggest at this point that this is more than a routine day off.

A bit of a cheap dinger, Mullins’ homer down the left field line would have gone out of only seven parks and it barely cleared a short porch in Tropicana Field. Mullins has been a rough fantasy proposition, as to get 13 homers and 16 stolen bases, fantasy managers have had to swallow a .202/.279/.356 line. He retains a little deep-league value based on how high he often hits in the order, but that’s about all.

His hard grounder down the line off Craig Kimbrel momentarily gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning. Langford is hitting .323/.368/.629 over his last 30 games with 10 homers and four stolen bases, though he’s been colder of late. Perhaps this will get him back on track.

Baker allowed a leadoff walk to Nicky Lopez (after two overturned strikeouts), another walk to Wyatt Langford, and sweated a hard lineout from Evan Carter as a pinch-hitter. But he was able to get Ezequiel Duran swinging with two on and two out to notch his 30th save. He’s been one of the biggest waiver closer adds of the season, right up there with Jacob Latz and Louis Varland. After throwing 30 pitches today and 20 on Thursday, Baker will likely not be available tomorrow against the White Sox.