Melville stifles Braves, McMahon's HR wins it

DENVER -- Move over, Baby Shark.

Right-hander Tim Melville solidified his own status as a YouTube sensation with five scoreless innings, which included a thrilling escape in his final frame, during Monday’s 3-1 victory over the Braves at Coors Field.

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Ryan McMahon won the game with a two-run walk-off homer off left-hander Jerry Blevins with one out in the bottom of the ninth. The victory ended the Braves’ win streak at eight games and the Rockies’ skid at four. But this one will be remembered just as much for Melville facing down the dangerous Freddie Freeman with the bases loaded, getting him to ground out to end the fifth with the game still scoreless.

Melville, 29, who had been working in a Phoenix-area barbecue restaurant, pitched in independent ball briefly and signed with Colorado on May 6, enjoyed that moment with the fans. As he headed to the dugout, he raised his arms to call for -- and bask in -- more noise.

“I was fired up, and wanted everybody else to be fired up,” said Meville, who debuted with the Reds in 2016 and has pitched in eight Major League games for four clubs.

The outing was Melville’s second Major League start this season -- and second to be shown for free on MLB’s YouTube channel. On Wednesday, in his first, he held the D-backs to one run in seven innings of a 7-2 win at Chase Field.

“It’s working out,” Melville said about going viral.

On Monday he showed that an old-fashioned reliance on guile and secondary pitches could work in a tight game against National League East-leading Atlanta.

Never mind that Melville’s fastball averaged 90.1 mph and never reached 92, or that the leadoff batter reached over his final four innings, or that he pitched around five hits and three walks.

Melville was a fourth-round pick of the Royals in 2008. Early in his pro career, he threw consistently in the upper 90s. As recently as last year, as a reliever at Triple-A Norfolk (Orioles), he could reach 98.

But after trying to pitch to the radar gun in his first few Major League stints, he figured he could beat hitters at lower speeds. He’s done it for two starts.

“Those first few times [in the Majors], you’re really uneasy,” Melville said. “You don’t really know who you are yet. You don’t want to come in and step on anybody’s toes. But I’ll just be who I am and make sure everybody else around me is having fun, also.”

After meeting Melville before Wednesday’s game in Phoenix, manager Bud Black figured he had a guy who had been around enough to know what he was doing. So he went with him then, and again on Monday.

“His experience and his path to get back to the big leagues, with that comes some calmness,” Black said. “He’s enjoying the moment.”

Defense helped Melville twice, with McMahon starting a double play to end the second and Ian Desmond’s throw to the plate on a reviewed play erasing Freeman in the fourth. It was just the 12th outfield assist overall and fourth at home for the Rockies this season.

In the fifth, Melville walked Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies -- which rankled Melville because the count against Albies started 0-2 -- to load the bases with two out. Melville then surprised Freeman with an up-and-in fastball that produced a grounder to second baseman McMahon stationed in short right.

“Any time you can get out of a jam like that against that team ... Because that team’s pretty good, man, there’s not a lot of people you want to pitch around,” said McMahon, whose winning hit was his 18th homer of the season and his second career walk-off.

Despite Melville's fun barbecue-to-riches backstory and the jokes that he is trying to avoid having to "work the bathroom shift,” the fact is that he -- and others -- are pitching for their futures with the club.

It has been a rough year. Colorado made two straight postseason appearances on the strength of a young staff. But this year, even after Melville’s outing, Rockies starters have a Majors-worst 5.75 ERA. And with righty Germán Márquez going to the injured list on Monday with right arm inflammation (the club is expected to call up its No. 20 prospect, Rico Garcia, to start on Tuesday against the Red Sox), all five members of the season-opening rotation are on the IL.

Melville’s working out of the fifth-inning jam was a treat for the beleaguered club, which has won just 19 of its last 58 games.

“We’ve been losing a lot, and it seems those situations don’t really go in our favor a lot lately,” third baseman Nolan Arenado said. “To see Tim do a great job there was really cool.

“It was awesome to see. He didn’t give in. We could learn a lot. I hope some of our pitchers were watching. He made the right pitches at the right time.”