Michael Massey went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs and the Kansas City Royals scored six times in the sixth inning to pick up an 8-3 win against the visiting Detroit Tigers on Monday in the opener of a three-game series.
Royals starter Michael Wacha (4-4) went seven frames, allowing two runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out three. Chris Stratton didn’t allow a hit in 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his third save.
Kansas City blew the game open in the sixth off reliever Joey Wentz.
Salvador Perez led off with a home run to left-center for a 3-1 Royals lead. Massey then doubled and scored on Freddy Fermin’s line-drive single to left. MJ Melendez singled, and Hunter Renfroe’s double drove in Fermin and Melendez for a 6-1 advantage.
That spelled the end of Wentz, who was replaced by Will Vest.
After Vest walked Kyle Isbel, Maikel Garcia knocked an RBI single to right field, pushing the lead to 7-1. Then, with one out, Vinnie Pasquantino belted a sacrifice fly to deep left field to bring in Isbel.
Detroit got a run back in the seventh. Kerry Carpenter led off with a double, moved to third on a one-out groundout by Spencer Torkelson and scored on Colt Keith’s double.
Carpenter had a sacrifice fly in the eighth to complete the scoring.
Massey put the Royals ahead 1-0 in the second, opening the inning with a 419-foot home run. It was the first home run Tigers starter Reese Olson (0-5) had given up this season.
Kansas City added another run in the third.
After a quick two outs, Pasquantino drew a walk and advanced to second on a Perez broken-bat single to center. That brought up Massey, who smacked a line-drive single that hit Olson’s lower body. Pasquantino scored on the play thanks to a throwing error from catcher Jake Rogers to make it 2-0.
Olson then exited the game with an apparent hip injury. He gave up two runs (one earned) and five hits in his 2 2/3 innings, walking one and fanning two.
Carpenter cut Detroit’s deficit to 2-1 in the fourth with a solo shot. He went 2-for-3, scoring twice.
