Detroit Tigers Sweep Royals With Power Bats, Speed and Pitching, Win 9-4

Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Tigers carried on their dominance of the Kansas City Royals by executing a sweep with a decisive 9-4 victory this afternoon.  Justin Verlander(W, 4-1, 2.68 ERA) was unhittable until the sixth inning, then had a rough go of it in the seventh, giving up three hits and three runs. For the most part, Verlander was lights-out and Kansas City struggled to get anything going all afternoon. It should be noted that Verlander’s recent increase in walks also continued with this start, giving up four bases on balls, three of which were to Nori Aoki. Lefty Ian Krol pitched the eighth and gave up a double to Billy Butler, but got through the inning unscathed. The same cannot be said for Al Alburquerque, who struggled with his control, giving up two hits, a run and a walk before closing out the game on a popup fielded by Avila.

The Tigers’ bats continued to bash the ball from the top of the lineup right on down. Once again, every Tigers batter notched at least one hit; Rajai Davis, Torii Hunter and Andrew Romine all had three. Davis had two stolen bases and Hunter picked up three RBI. Nick Castellanos and Alex Avila both hit home runs, Avila’s a 418ft, two run bomb to straight away center field. Ian Kinsler had two hits and an RBI, Miguel Cabrera also added two RBI on a double and Victor Martinez had a hit and was intentionally walked twice for the second consecutive game.

The Tigers outscored the Royals in this series 26-8, and put up 42 hits to Kansas City’s 16.

The Tigers return home to Comerica Park for the start of a four game series with the Houston Astros tomorrow night at 7:08pm. Houston’s Jarred Cosart(1-2, 5.52 ERA) will take on Max Scherzer(3-1, 2.08 ERA).