Detroit Tigers at Kansas City Royals

· Major League Baseball

Detroit Tigers

79-73, 40-37 Away

Final
3 - 1

Kansas City Royals

82-70, 45-32 Home

Meadows gives Detroit lead with broken-bat single in the 10th, Tigers hold on to beat Royals 3-1

Tyler Holton (7-1) retired all six Royals he faced, striking out a pair in the ninth to force extra innings. Jason Foley took care of the Royals in the 10th, earning the save for the second straight night and 25th time this season.

“Pitching and defense, it goes together, and we hung in there in some really difficult situations,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, whose club has won 24 of its last 34 games, its best stretch of that length in more than a decade.

“It was kind of all hands on deck,” Hinch said, “and they responded.”

Riley Greene added an RBI single off Lucas Erceg (2-6) later in the 10th for the Tigers, helping them to remain 1 1/2 games back of the Twins for the final AL wild-card spot. Minnesota beat the Guardians earlier Tuesday night.

The Royals stayed 2 1/2 games behind Baltimore for the first wild-card spot. They are 1 1/2 ahead of Minnesota.

“There were some good pitchers on the other side that are trying to keep us from doing things offensively," Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “That was a classic pitching duel the whole night.”

Cole Ragans allowed one run on four hits and four walks with six strikeouts over seven innings for Kansas City, and Casey Mize allowed one run on six hits and four walks while pitching into the fifth for Detroit.

“We found a way,” Mize said, “and that's obviously the most important thing right now.”

Ragans struggled with his control from the onset, hitting Andy Ibáñez to start the game — Matt Vierling followed with an RBI double — and walking a pair in the fourth inning. But with a combination of groundballs and strikeouts, the hard-throwing left-hander was able to keep the Tigers from capitalizing on his mistakes.

Freddy Fermín also threw out a pair of runners trying to steal second.

Mize allowed plenty of traffic on the bases, too. But it was his defense that kept Kansas City from a big inning. The Tigers turned double plays in the third, fourth and fifth, the last after Mize had walked the bases loaded and Shelby Miller got Michael Massey to ground into the double play on the first pitch he threw.

Miller loaded the bases again in the sixth but got Tommy Pham to pop out and end the inning.

“Shelby bailed me out of a huge spot,” Mize said. “Our team is just resilient and that's what is important.”

WONDERFUL WITT

The Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. became the first shortstop in major league history with multiple seasons of at least 30 homers and 30 steals when the All-Star swiped second base in the first inning. Witt has 31 home runs this season, including a grand slam in the series opener Monday night, to go with 30 steals. The 24-year-old superstar had 49 steals and 30 homers last season.

ROSTER MOVES

Royals RHP James McArthur went on the injured list with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, though Quatraro believes he could be back for the playoffs. “The hope is it's not a season-ending injury,” Quatraro said. RHP Steven Cruz was recalled from Triple-A Omaha to take his place in the bullpen.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Royals RHP Michael Lorenzen (left hamstring strain) and LHP Will Smith (lower back spasms) could make the next step in their rehab this weekend when they pitch against each other in live batting practice. There still is no date for their return.

Tigers: LHP Tarik Skubal (16-4, 2.50) tries to match the Braves' Chris Sale with his major league-best 17th win in the series finale against Kansas City on Wednesday night. Skubal has won his last four decisions.

Royals: RHP Alec Marsh (8-8, 4.42) is on the mound against Detroit after striking out a career-best 11 in 5 1/3 innings last Friday night against Pittsburgh. Marsh pitched six innings of three-hit ball against Detroit on May 21.

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: 66.3%

Tigers: 33.7%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	10th Inning	Massey flied out to center.
	10th Inning	Perez flied out to center.
	10th Inning	Witt Jr. grounded out to shortstop.
	10th Inning	Foley relieved Holton
	10th Inning	Rogers catching.
	10th Inning	McKinstry at second base.

Statistics

DET		KC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
1	Hit By Pitch	0
10	Ground Balls	15
11	Strikeouts	8
3	Runs Batted In	1
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
7	Hits	7
0	Stolen Bases	1
5	Walks	6
0	Catcher Interference	0
3	Runs	1
1	Ground Into Double Play	3
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
34	At Bats	34
0	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
20	Runners Left On Base	20
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
3	Doubles	0
13	Fly Balls	11
1	Caught Stealing	0
156	Pitches	170
0	Games Started	0
3	Pinch At Bats	1
1	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	1
10	Total Bases	7
40	Plate Appearances	40
0.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
3	Extra Base Hits	0
3.0	Runs Created	2.0
.206	Batting Average	.206
.333	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.294	Slugging Percentage	.206
.206	Secondary Average	.206
.325	On Base Percentage	.325
.619	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.531
0.8	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.4
2.8	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	1.8
25.0	Batter Rating	12.0
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.90	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.25
.088	Isolated Power	.000
0.45	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.75
.125	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.150
.000	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.000
6.0	Runs Produced	2.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.3
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.3
73.8	MLB Rating	68.0
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0