DETROIT -- Troy Melton and Dillon Dingler have accomplished quite a bit early in their Major League careers. On Thursday, the Tigers' pitcher-catcher battery added a rare feat for any experience level: The strikeout/2-1 putout.
It takes a special situation and awareness, and it got the Tigers out of a bases-loaded jam in the opening inning of Thursday's 4-3 win over the Royals at Comerica Park.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it to end an inning with the bases loaded in my entire career,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “I’ve seen that out recorded, but not really like that.”
The Royals made Melton work for 28 pitches in the first inning, from a leadoff walk to Carter Jensen to a one-out single from Vinnie Pasquantino. Salvador Perez then battled Melton for a 10-pitch walk to load the bases with one out, but Melton responded with three-pitch strikeouts of Michael Massey and Isaac Collins.
The Collins strikeout, however, came on a slider in the dirt that bounced past Dingler. Had there been fewer than two outs, Collins would’ve been out due to the runner on first base. With two outs, however, the uncaught third strike was a live ball.
But with the bases loaded, there was a forceout at any base, allowing the Tigers to escape by simply stepping on home plate before Jensen crossed.
“That was weird,” Collins said. “Credit to the pitcher for knowing that all he has to do is just step on the plate and not have to tag him.”
Melton did that -- barely. He reached over his head to catch Dingler’s underhand flip and then stepped on the plate just before Jensen slid across.
“I should’ve been yelling 'One, one, one' to make it a little bit easier,” Melton said, suggesting Dingler instead throw to first base. “I definitely knew he swung, and then I kind of saw Ding -- [with his] back turned, it’s really hard to know what’s going on with the play. So I was just making sure I was trying to be there. Should’ve probably directed him to first base to make it a little easier on everybody. Glad it worked out.”
Dingler was initially unaware that it had worked.
“I felt like an idiot on that play, to be honest,” he said. “It was a little tough to see out there, so as soon as I saw the ball go down, I was going down to block it, and I had no idea he swung. I had no idea that he even check swung. So when I tossed the ball to [Melton] and I saw him step on home and not tag him, I was like, 'Aw, shoot, he scored.'
"And then they called him out, and I looked, and the guy was running to first, so I was just like, 'Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh.' I had no idea. No idea."
Credit Melton, a catcher in high school before he took on pitching full-time, for thinking on his feet.
“I’ve been playing baseball since I was, like, 2, so I’ve got a good idea of the rules at this point,” he said. “I wasn’t always just a pitcher, so there’s been some other instances where I’ve had those situations, so maybe that helped.”
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was just the third play in the Majors since 2021 with a strikeout and a 2-1 putout. The last came on the same day one year ago: White Sox pitcher Brandon Eisert struck out Rays batter Danny Jansen with the bases loaded and one out, but the ball got away from catcher Kyle Teel. The runner tried to score from third, but Teel threw to Eisert for the tag out, making it an inning-ending double play.
On April 19, 2024, then-Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta struck out Cardinals slugger Jordan Walker with runners on first and second and two outs. Walker reached first on a passed ball, but Brewers catcher William Contreras threw to Peralta at home to get the runner trying to score from second.
The last time the Tigers were involved in a strikeout/2-1 putout was also in a game against the Royals, back on Sept. 27, 2000. Hideo Nomo struck out Rey Sanchez with runners at the corners and one out, but the ball got past Tigers catcher Brad Ausmus. Sanchez was already out via strikeout, then Ausmus threw to Nomo to retire baserunner Hector Ortiz.
None of those plays were quite like Thursday.
“That was a weird play,” Collins said. “But that’s baseball. You see something new every week.”