DETROIT _ The Royals drafted left-hander Mike Montgomery in 2008, and 11 years later he finally picked up his first win with the Royals.
Montgomery, who the Royals traded away in 2012 and re-acquired via a trade for Martin Maldonado last month, enjoyed a career-best performance in just his fifth start of the season to put his club on track for a 7-0 win over the Detroit Tigers in front of an announced 26,028 in the third game of a four-game series at Comerica Park on Saturday night.
The teams will wrap up their series and the Royals will conclude their 10-game road trip on Sunday afternoon. The Royals (42-76) will try to earn a series split.
The game serves as the 25th Annual Negro Leagues Tribute Game for the Tigers (35-79). They held a pregame ceremony recognizing former members of the Negro Leagues. Both teams wore Negro Leagues tribute uniforms representing the Detroit Stars and Kansas City Monarchs.
Montgomery (2-5) pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out a career-high 12 without issuing a walk to get his first win with the Royals. Montgomery allowed four hits, all singles.
The last Royals pitcher with 12 strikeouts and no walks in an outing was Zack Greinke against Cincinnati on June 13, 2010. Greinke struck out 12 in a complete-game win. Only three pitchers in Royals history have struck out 12 or more without a walk. Luke Hochevar did it against the Texas Rangers on July 25, 2009. Hochevar struck out 13 in seven innings.
The Royals' Jorge Soler hit is 33rd home run of the season on Saturday, pulling him within five of Mike Moustakas' single-season club record of 38 set in 2017. Hunter Dozier tripled and drove in a run for KC, and Whit Merrifield had two hits and two runs scored.
Soler smoked a high fastball from Tigers starting pitcher Spencer Turnbull over the right-center field wall with Merrifield on base. Soler's blast traveled an estimated 444 feet and gave the Royals a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. They never relinquished the lead.
The Royals will send right-hander Jakob Junis (7-10, 4.88) to the hill in the series finale Sunday, while left-hander Daniel Norris (3-9, 4.76) is scheduled to start for the Tigers.
