Willi Castro’s two-run home run keyed a three-run eighth inning as the Detroit Tigers defeated the host Kansas City Royals 6-5 on Wednesday afternoon to complete a three-game sweep.
The Royals lost their sixth straight game and 11th in their last 12.
Three of this season’s four series between Detroit and Kansas City have resulted in sweeps, with two of those sweeps going to the Tigers.
Adalberto Mondesi and Salvador Perez hit home runs for Kansas City.
Tarik Skubal (4-7) picked up the win for the Tigers. He allowed three runs on six hits in six innings with seven strikeouts and two walks. Michael Fulmer gave up two runs in the ninth before finishing off his fifth save.
Greg Holland (2-2) took the loss, allowing three runs in just one-third of an inning.
Royals starter Brady Singer was removed after just three innings with right posterior shoulder tightness. He allowed one run on four hits.
Singer worked around a walk in the first to become the first Royals pitcher in five games not to surrender a run in the first inning. The Tigers had runners on second and third with no outs in the second, but Singer got two groundouts and a strikeout without allowing a run.
Mondesi’s 445-foot home run to left-center field in the second inning gave the Royals a lead for the first time in 46 innings.
It didn’t last long as the Tigers scored a run in the third on back-to-back doubles by Akil Baddoo and Jeimer Candelario.
The Royals regained the lead 3-1 in the third on Perez’s two-run home run. Perez hit the first pitch into the bullpen in left, his 17th of the season, driving in Carlos Santana.
The Tigers tied the game in the seventh on Castro’s home run, his sixth. Holland walked the first batter he faced, Niko Goodrum, before Castro went deep. Holland gave up a one-out single to Robbie Grossman, ending his day.
A Baddoo single sent Grossman to third and he scored on a wild pitch. Detroit’s Niko Goodrum also scored a run in the eighth inning on a wild pitch.
Perez struck out to end the game against Fulmer with the tying run on base for the Royals.
–Field Level Media