By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Kansas City Royals rolled to their fifth straight victory in Detroit on Friday night, stomping the Tigers 9-2.
Detroit did take the first lead of the game in the first inning when designated hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy hit a two run home run to left field, but from there Royals starter Cole Ragans would shut the Tigers down.
The Royals would draw within one run in the second inning, Salvador Perez hitting his 20th home run of the season to left center. Kansas City would go on to take the lead in the fourth inning.
The tying run didn't come easily though for Kansas City. A Hunter Renfroe double brough Salvador Perez around third where he was initially called out at home, but after a challenge by Manager Matt Quatraro, the umpires overturned the call and Perez was safe avoiding the tag of Tigers catcher Jake Rogers. Renfroe would later come around to score on a sacrifice fly from third baseman Paul DeJong.
A big six run seventh inning pushed the Royals ahead for good. Vinnie Pasquantino singled to score Dairon Blanco and Maikel Garcia. With Bobby Witt Jr at second base, the Royals would execute a successful double steal, moving both Witt and Pasquantino 90 feet into scoring position.
A wild pitch from Tigers reliever Shelby Miller would score Witt Jr, before a double from Perez would bring Pasquantino across to push the Royals lead to 7-2. A single from Freddy Fermin would give Kansas City another run, scoring Perez, before DeJong would get his second RBI of the game brining across Renfroe.
Ragans earned the win, pitch 5.2 innings and giving up just two hits and two runs while striking out six, he did however walk four batters. The bullpen behind Ragans combined to give up just one additional hit, also walking one more batter.
Perez led all Royals hitters going 3 for 5 on the day with 2 RBI's and 3 runs scored. It was a rare off day for Witt Jr who was just 1 for 5 and struck out twice.
New Royals pitcher Michael Lorenzen will start on Saturday against the Tigers. Lorenzen was acquired from the Texas Rangers on July 29th in exchange for left handed reliever Walter Pennington. The Tigers have yet to announce a starter.
First pitch on Saturday is at 5:10 pm with pregame airing at 4:30 on KFEQ.