DETROIT _ The offense was so contagious for the Royals that every player who stepped into the batter's box either collected a hit or drove in a run. It truly was an outbreak that seemed to keep spreading throughout the visiting dugout for three hours.
The Royals collected season highs in runs and hits (19) and picked up a 15-3 win against the Detroit Tigers in front of an announced 19,500 on Star Wars Night at Comerica Park on Saturday. They evened their three-game series at one game apiece headed into Sunday's finale.
The Royals also blasted six extra-base hits, and third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez became the first Royals rookie with a four-hit game since Christian Colon in 2015. Alex Gordon's five RBIs tied for his second-highest total in a game for his career.
The previous night against Tigers and starter Matthew Boyd, the offense scratched out two runs through the first eight innings and left the tying run on base in the ninth inning of a 4-3 loss.
Saturday, the Royals scored runs in four of the first five innings, including three multi-run innings to put the Tigers on their heels from the beginning and provide starting pitcher Homer Bailey plenty of cushion.
Bailey delivered a quality start and held the Tigers to two runs on seven hits and two walks across six innings. He struck out four, and both runs he allowed came on a third-inning two-run home run by Jeimer Candelario. Bailey has lasted six innings or more in four of his seven starts this season.
The Royals chased Tigers starter and new father Tyson Ross before the second inning ended. Ross' wife gave birth to the couple's first child on May 1, a baby boy. Because he'd gone on the paternity list, Ross hadn't pitched in a game since a loss to the Boston Red Sox on April 24.
The Royals scored four first-inning runs on six hits, including a Gordon home run. Three batters into the outing, Gordon went the other way with an 0-1 pitch from Ross which kept going and carried over into the left-field bleachers for his sixth home run of the season. (He had 22 in the past two seasons combined.)
Jorge Soler's RBI single off the wall in deep center field drove in Hunter Dozier for the third run, and Ryan O'Hearn's ground ball through the left side of a shifted infield drove in Soler for the fourth run.
In the second inning, Adalberto Mondesi's RBI triple _ the Royals had an MLB-best 18 triples entering the day _ gave them a five-run advantage and marked the end of the outing for Ross. Ross gave up five runs on seven hits and two walks in 1 1/3 innings.
O'Hearn's doubled to start the third inning and scored on a Gutierrez double. Mondesi walked with the bases loaded to force in the second run of the inning and seventh of the game for the Royals.
After Candelario pulled the Tigers within five, 7-2, Whit Merrifield's fifth-inning home run and a Gordon sacrifice to score Mondesi gave the Royals a 9-2 lead. The Royals scored six runs in the eighth on a Martin Maldonado bases-loaded walk, a Billy Hamilton groundout and a Mondesi fielder's choice. Gordon added a two-run single and scored on a Soler RBI single.
Royals reliever Jake Newberry gave up a solo home run to Ronnie Rodriguez in the eighth to get the Tigers to three runs.
