DETROIT (AP) — Salvador Perez had three hits, including a home run, and the Kansas City Royals won their fifth straight by routing Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers 9-2 on Friday night.
Cole Ragans (8-7) held the Tigers to two runs on two hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out six.
Skubal (12-4) allowed a season-worst five runs on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. Skubal, who struck out eight, is 2-9 against the Royals with a 5.05 ERA in 14 games, 12 of them starts.
“They don’t have a lot of swing and misses over there, and if you chase them, you can get into some bad counts,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “I thought Tarik did a job of pitching to the game situation, but they had a good approach and continued it against our bullpen.”
The Royals chased Skubal in a six-run seventh inning that included nine straight hits, two stolen bases and a wild pitch.
“You can’t ever plan for that, for sure, but the approaches were so good, especially once we got going a little bit,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “That inning was remarkable.”
The Tigers, who have been outscored 34-7 during a five-game losing streak, took a 2-0 lead on Justyn-Henry Malloy’s first-inning homer, but Perez led off the second with a homer off the bricks behind the stands in left-center field to make it 2-1.
“I thought he set the tone for us with the home run,” Quatraro said. “Skubal has no-hit stuff every night, and he goes up there and crushed that slider. That got us right back in the game after they got two.”
Perez scored from first on Hunter Renfroe’s double in the fourth, and Paul DeJong made it 3-2 with a sacrifice fly on his 31st birthday to score Renfroe.
The Royals blew the game open in the seventh. Dairon Blanco and Maikel Garcia singled with one out to end Skubal’s night. Bobby Witt Jr. greeted Shelby Miller with an infield single to load the bases.
“You don’t want to let anyone see a pitcher for a fourth time, and as the inning developed, we wanted to get a different look to the middle of the order,” Hinch said. “It’s frustrating when that doesn’t work, and it obviously didn’t tonight.”
Vinnie Pasquantino hit a two-run single, making it 5-2, followed by a double steal and a run-scoring wild pitch. Perez hit an RBI double for his third hit.
Renfroe and Freddy Fermin singled to make it seven straight hits and an 8-2 lead. Beau Brieske gave up singles to Garrett Hampson and DeJong before getting the last two outs.
Wenceel Pérez made a spectacular running catch in the eighth inning to rob Perez of a fourth hit and a possible triple that would have given him a cycle.
UP NEXT
The teams play the third game of the series on Saturday with Royals RHP Michael Lorenzen (5-6, 3.81) making his Kansas City debut. Lorenzen was a 2023 All-Star with the Tigers. Detroit, down to two healthy starters, will use its bullpen for another nine innings.
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