Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers

· Major League Baseball

Kansas City Royals

63-50, 27-28 Away

Final
3 - 2

Detroit Tigers

53-60, 26-31 Home

MJ Melendez hits pinch-hit homer in the 9th inning to rally Royals past Tigers 3-2

Trailing 2-0 going into the top of the ninth, Hunter Renfroe and Freddy Fermin reached on singles with one out. Adam Frazier nearly hit a pinch-hit homer, but the ball curled foul and he flew out to center field.

Melendez then hit a 362-foot blast, his 13th of the season, to give Kansas City the lead.

“I like to be in those situation — it is do or die and that's a lot of fun,” Melendez said. “I'm going to be ready late in games, whether they need me to hit or play defense. I have to stay as locked in as possible, just like I'm in the game.”

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch used lefty Shelby Miller in the ninth, knowing the Royals would be sending up their left-handed hitters.

“I think Shelby had given up eight hits against lefties all year going into that inning,” Hinch said. “They got two, two-strike hits from Renfroe and Fermin, and then a bad splitter to a guy who can hit the ball out of the park.”

Chris Stratton (4-3) got the win with a scoreless eighth. The Royals' Hunter Harvey, who squandered a two-run lead in the ninth inning of a 6-5, 11-inning loss on Saturday, pitched the ninth for his first save.

“We acquired (Harvey) to pitch in high-leverage situations, and that was high leverage,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “There's a reason we gave up good players to get him, so we're not going to run away from one bad outing.”

The Royals have won six of their last seven games.

“We talked a lot about how they got one from us yesterday late, and then we turned around and did that today,” Quatraro said. “That's why you can't get too high or too low, because the same thing will happen to you.”

The Tigers went 2-7 on a nine-game homestand against Minnesota, Cleveland and Kansas City.

The Tigers have two healthy starting pitchers after trading Jack Flaherty, so manager Hinch has relied heavily on his bullpen. On Sunday, he got four scoreless innings from Alex Faedo and Brenan Hanifee before turning the ball over to Brant Hurter for his major league debut.

The Tigers took a 1-0 lead when Zach McKinstry tripled and scored on Gio Urshela's two-out single in the second inning. Matt Vierling made it 2-0 in the fifth, driving in Javier Baez with a sacrifice fly.

Hurter struck out Salvador Perez and Paul DeJong to get out of a jam in the sixth inning, and allowed two hits before leaving after the seventh. Will Vest pitched the eighth, but Miller couldn't finish it.

“Our pitching was awesome,” Hinch said. “Faedo had to battle and Hanifee came in and got the ball on the ground. They stacked the lineup expecting to see Hurter, and he got us once through the order. After that, we had avenues to get it done, so it is a gut-punch to lose.”

Miller (5-7) worked two-thirds of an inning and took the loss.

Royals: Open a three-game home series against the Red Sox on Monday. RHP Brady Singer (8-6, 2.88) is scheduled to start against Boston LHP James Paxton (8-3, 4.52).

Tigers: After an off day Monday, take on the Mariners for three games in Seattle. Detroit's RHP Keider Montero (1-5, 6.18) is scheduled to start Tuesday. Seattle has not named a starter.

How can I watch Kansas City Royals vs. Detroit Tigers?

TV Channel: Royals at Tigers 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on FanDuel SN DET.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Tigers: 48.5%

Royals: 51.5%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Keith lined into double play, third to first, Pérez doubled off first.
	9th Inning	Pérez singled to center.
	9th Inning	Báez struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Melendez in left field.
	9th Inning	Frazier at third base.
	9th Inning	Isbel in center field.

Statistics

KC		DET
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
13	Ground Balls	9
8	Strikeouts	5
3	Runs Batted In	2
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
9	Hits	9
0	Stolen Bases	0
2	Walks	4
0	Catcher Interference	0
3	Runs	2
0	Ground Into Double Play	1
0	Sacrifice Flies	1
36	At Bats	33
1	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
16	Runners Left On Base	15
0	Triples	1
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
1	Doubles	0
15	Fly Balls	20
0	Caught Stealing	0
142	Pitches	129
0	Games Started	0
3	Pinch At Bats	1
1	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	0
13	Total Bases	11
38	Plate Appearances	38
162.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
2	Extra Base Hits	1
3.8	Runs Created	3.9
.250	Batting Average	.273
.333	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.361	Slugging Percentage	.333
.167	Secondary Average	.182
.289	On Base Percentage	.342
.651	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.675
0.9	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.5
3.8	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	4.1
26.0	Batter Rating	19.5
36.0	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.74	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.39
.111	Isolated Power	.061
0.25	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.80
.053	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.105
-.083	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.091
6.0	Runs Produced	4.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.4
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.3
78.8	MLB Rating	77.0
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0