Spencer Torkelson had a two-run double and the host Detroit Tigers thumped the slumping Kansas City Royals 7-3 on Friday night.
Riley Greene had two hits, scored two runs and knocked in another, while Andy Ibanez hit a solo homer. Tomas Nido added three hits and an RBI.
Right-hander Jackson Jobe (2-0) gave up one run on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts in five innings to collect the win. Tommy Kahnle got the last two outs with the bases loaded for his fourth save.
Vinnie Pasquantino drove in two runs and scored the other for Kansas City, which has lost five straight.
Royals starter Cole Ragans (1-1) gave up five runs and six hits in four-plus innings. The left-hander also walked three while recording eight strikeouts. Reliever Lucas Erceg was removed in the seventh after getting hit in the right leg by a comebacker by Greene.
The Royals struck first. Bobby Witt Jr. hit a one-out double to left and scored on Pasquantino’s double down the right field line.
The Tigers tied it in the bottom of the second. Torkelson drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Ragans struck out the next two batters, but Nido’s soft single scored Torkelson.
Ibanez put the Tigers on top with his second homer of the season, banging a fastball from Ragans over the left-center field wall.
Detroit extended its lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth. Justyn-Henry Malloy drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on Gleyber Torres’ single. Greene then ripped a single to right to knock in Malloy.
John Schreiber replaced Ragans and gave up an RBI single to pinch hitter Trey Sweeney. Greene then scored when Torkelson bounced into a double play.
Two-out singles by Greene and Sweeney preceded Torkelson’s two-run, double to left off Angel Zerpa in the seventh.
Kansas City loaded the bases in the eighth on Salvador Perez’s double and two walks. John Brebbia escaped that jam with a strikeout and popout.
Pasquantino had an RBI single in the ninth. With the bases loaded, Kahnle walked the first batter he faced to bring in another run before getting a strikeout and a lineout to end the game.
–Field Level Media
