MLB

Detroit Tigers at Kansas City Royals

· Major League Baseball
Detroit Tigers
78-73, 39-37 Away
Final
7 - 6
Kansas City Royals
82-69, 45-31 Home

Keith hits 2-run homer as Tigers overcome Witt's grand slam and rally for 7-6 win over Royals

Pinch-hitter Wenceel Pérez had the tying two-run double for Detroit, which began its final trip of the regular season by moving within 1 1/2 games of Minnesota for the final AL wild-card spot. The Twins lost to Cleveland earlier in the night.

“It was an incredible win because of how we were able to do it,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We didn't do much early, although our at-bats were pretty good. Started to chip away a little bit, a couple of really big swings, and then we held on."

Brenan Hanifee (1-1) earned the win in relief for Detroit, allowing one run and three hits over 2 1/3 innings. Jason Foley finished off a solid bullpen performance, working a perfect ninth to earn his 24th save and second in two days.

“The bullpen has been doing it all year for us,” Keith said, “and they did it again tonight.”

Bobby Witt Jr. hit a grand slam to stake Kansas City to a 4-0 lead, and he added a bunt single for a five-RBI game. But the Royals otherwise kept squandering chances to score, just as they did in their loss to the Pirates on Sunday.

Sam Long (3-2) took the loss for Kansas City, allowing three runs while retiring just two batters in relief of Seth Lugo.

“A lot of stuff happened in that game, clearly. It was an intense back-and-forth, both teams putting everything on the line,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “You get out to a lead, you feel pretty good. You know they're not going to go away.”

Indeed, the Royals started their final homestand by taking advantage of what Detroit could not: the bases loaded.

The Tigers packed them in the third before Keith grounded out to second to end the threat. But when Kansas City loaded the bases in the bottom half — a leadoff walk from Adam Frazier, a single by Yuli Gurriel and a bunt single from Kyle Isbel — Witt hit a 1-1 pitch what seemed like a mile high and over the left-field wall for his second grand slam of the season.

Reese Olson, making his first start since straining his right shoulder July 20 in Toronto, was lifted one batter later, after Salvador Perez blooped a single to right. He allowed four runs, four hits and a walk while throwing 50 pitches.

The Tigers still trailed 5-1 in the fifth when they began their comeback, scoring once on Witt's throwing error and twice more when Keith homered to right. And after Witt delivered an RBI single in the bottom half for his 200th hit of the season, Detroit pushed across three more runs in the sixth off Long and John Schreiber to take a 7-6 lead.

“We had trouble putting them away from the very beginning. There weren’t a lot of easy outs,” Quatraro said. "You have got to give them credit the way they battled their at-bats and drove (Seth) Lugo’s pitch count up. Then they continued to put good at-bats up. I thought ours were pretty good, too. We just didn’t get the big hits like they did.”

The Royals had two aboard with one out in the seventh, and the first two on base in the eighth, but failed to score both times.

“That was one of the best games we've played as a team,” Keith said. “I don't think anybody thought that we were out of it."

Roster Moves Tigers: RHP Ricky Vanasco was optioned to Triple-A Toledo to make space for Olson on the roster. Vanasco pitched two scoreless innings in two appearances with the club, earning his first big league win on Sept. 5 in Oakland.

Trainer's Room Royals: RHP Chris Stratton, who went on the injured list Saturday, was diagnosed with a Grade-1 flexor strain and will be shut down for at least a week. ... RHP James McArthur left Monday's game after retiring two batters with right elbow tightness.

Up Next Detroit: RHP Casey Mize (2-6, 4.47) is on the mound against Kansas City for the second game of the series Tuesday night.

Kansas City: LHP Cole Ragans (11-9, 3.32) faces the Tigers after striking out 12 against them in an 8-3 win on May 22.

How can I watch Detroit Tigers vs. Kansas City Royals?
  • TV Channel: Tigers at Royals 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
  • Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Royals: 61.9%
Tigers: 38.1%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

9th Inning Pham struck out swinging.
9th Inning Isbel grounded out to second.
9th Inning Grossman flied out to center.
9th Inning Foley relieved Brieske
9th Inning Grossman hit for Hampson
9th Inning Jung at third base.

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/det.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originDET https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/kc.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originKC
1 Games Played 1
1 Team Games Played 1
0 Hit By Pitch 0
14 Ground Balls 10
11 Strikeouts 9
6 Runs Batted In 6
0 Sacrifice Hit 0
14 Hits 11
1 Stolen Bases 1
3 Walks 2
0 Catcher Interference 0
7 Runs 6
0 Ground Into Double Play 2
1 Sacrifice Flies 0
40 At Bats 35
1 Home Runs 1
0 Grand Slam Home Runs 1
18 Runners Left On Base 17
1 Triples 2
1 Game Winning RBIs 0
0 Intentional Walks 0
2 Doubles 0
16 Fly Balls 16
0 Caught Stealing 0
180 Pitches 132
0 Games Started 0
3 Pinch At Bats 2
2 Pinch Hits 1
0.0 Player Rating 0.0
1 Is Qualified 1
1 Is Qualified In Steals 1
21 Total Bases 18
44 Plate Appearances 37
162.0 Projected Home Runs 162.0
4 Extra Base Hits 3
8.3 Runs Created 5.6
.350 Batting Average .314
.667 Pinch Hit Average .500
.525 Slugging Percentage .514
.275 Secondary Average .286
.386 On Base Percentage .351
.911 OBP Pct + SLG Pct .866
0.9 Ground To Fly Ball Ratio 0.6
8.3 Runs Created Per 27 Outs 5.8
50.5 Batter Rating 44.0
40.0 At Bats Per Home Run 35.0
1.00 Stolen Base Percentage 1.00
4.09 Pitches Per Plate Appearance 3.57
.175 Isolated Power .200
0.27 Walk To Strikeout Ratio 0.22
.068 Walks Per Plate Appearance .054
-.075 Secondary Average Minus Batting Average -.029
13.0 Runs Produced 12.0
0.9 Runs Ratio 1.0
0.6 Patience Ratio 0.6
0.5 Balls In Play Average 0.4
99.0 MLB Rating 92.5
0.0 Offensive Wins Above Replacement 0.0
0.0 Wins Above Replacement 0.0

Game Information

Kauffman Stadium

Location: Kansas City, Missouri
Attendance: 18,920 | Capacity:

2024 American League Central Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Cleveland 92 69 .571 - L2
Kansas City 86 76 .531 6.5 W1
Detroit 86 76 .531 6.5 L2
Minnesota 82 80 .506 10.5 L4
Chicago 41 121 .253 51.5 W2
Full Standings