KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Some of the best outings of Tigers pitcher Jordan Zimmermann's career have come against the Royals, a collection of six starts without a loss and without a home run allowed.
About three minutes after he took the mound Tuesday, Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas changed the latter.
An unlikely culprit erased the former.
In just his third major-league start, Royals right-hander Burch Smith threw into the seventh inning, outdueling Zimmermann in a 5-4 victory in front of 29,597 fans at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday.
Smith, 28, produced unquestionably his best appearance in his first season in a Royals uniform. A Rule 5 draft selection in December, Smith allowed just one hit and walked two. The two walks scored after he departed in the seventh, when lefty Tim Hill gave up a three-run homer. Smith struck out six, all but one of them swinging, an indication of the mixture of pitches that kept the Tigers from timing his fastball.
Smith picked up his first win since 2013. And he kept the Royals' momentum rolling after the All-Star Game. They are 4-1 since the break.
Another continued trend: The Royals (31-69) have thrown rookies in three consecutive starts _ Brad Keller, Heath Fillmyer and Smith _ and all three have thrown at least six innings.
As for the unlikely aspect, Smith's first two turns in the Royals rotation offered little reason to foreshadow the supremacy that would come Tuesday. Smith failed to make it out of the fourth inning in his first start. He didn't even trot out for the third inning in his second opportunity.
But he was borderline unhittable in his third on Tuesday, the lone disruption a fourth-inning single from second baseman Niko Goodrum. Royals catcher Salvador Perez negated the leadoff single by pegging out Goodrum trying to steal.
When Smith departed the mound for the final time Tuesday, the Tigers still had a zero on the scoreboard. One batter later, Victor Martinez homered off Hill, with two walks from Smith scoring.
Offered a two-run lead in the ninth, Royals pitcher Wily Peralta allowed one run and recorded the save. Martinez flew out to right for the final out.
A first-inning blast from Moustakas gave Smith a lead he wouldn't lose. Moustakas tagged Zimmermann for a no-doubter in the right-field bullpen, his 20th of the season providing a potential boost to his value seven days before the MLB trade deadline. The Royals have scored twice in the first inning four times in five games since the All-Star break.
In seven previous appearances against the Royals, including six starts, Zimmermann had prevented a home run across 422/3 innings, posting a 1.48 earned run average.
Moustakas got him early. Perez added another a little later. His 362-foot line drive snuck over the left-field wall for his 15th home run of the year. Perez had three hits and was a triple shy of the cycle.
Zimmermann lasted just five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits.
