KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This one is going to leave a mark.
On a night the heat index climbed over 100 degrees, the Tigers saw a 6-0 lead go up in flames Saturday night. Powered by two long and loud three-run home runs, the Royals celebrated Alex Gordon Day at Kauffman Stadium with a rousing 9-8 win.
After scoring four times in the bottom of the fifth against starter Casey Mize, the Royals scored five off reliever Kyle Funkhouser in the seventh.
Carlos Santana, with two on and one out, drove a 97-mph, 3-2 sinker from Funkhouser 422 feet beyond the Royals’ bullpen in right field. The three-run shot flipped what started out as a pleasant script for the Tigers. And the Royals kept scoring.
Funkhouser exited with two on and two out. Lefty Ian Krol was summoned to face left-handed hitter Ryan O’Hearn. But Royals manager Mike Matheny countered with right-handed hitting Hanser Alberto.
Win, Alberto.
He drove a two-run triple over Derek Hill’s reach in center. That ended up being the margin of victory after the Tigers made things very interesting in the top of the ninth.
Rookie Akil Baddoo blasted a two-run home run to right field off Greg Holland in the top of the ninth to make it one-run game. With two outs, though, Holland walked Robbie Grossman and Miguel Cabrera.
Matheny summoned another aging reliever, another teammate of Gordon's, Wade Davis, to face Jeimer Candelario, who had jump-started the Tigers with a monster, three-run home run in the third inning.
This time, with the tying run on second base, Candelario struck out to end the game.
Before the game, Gordon, the retired Royals great, threw out the ceremonial first pitch — from left field. He threw a perfect strike on one-hop to Salvador Perez at the plate. Just like old times in Kansas City. Perez had his own highlight in the third — ruining Mize's day in the process.
Mize cruised through four innings on just 62 pitches and went into the fifth with a 6-run cushion and no set innings restriction. He would only get two more outs. Three straight singles plated one run and then with two outs, Mize left a 1-1 two-seamer over the heart of the plate and Perez slammed it into the fountains in left center — a 454-foot, three-run shot.
Mize had allowed three runs or fewer in 14 straight starts dating to April 29.
Cabrera created the first two runs against Royals starter Carlos Hernandez. He singled and scored from second base on a ground out and error in the second inning. In the third, after Hernandez walked the bases loaded, Cabrera drove a sacrifice fly to right.
That was career RBI No. 1,769 for Cabrera. He got 1,770 with another sacrifice fly in the fifth. He now ranks 20th on the all-time RBI chart.
With two runners still on in the third, Candelario put a charge into a 2-2 change-up and hit it 434 feet into the batter’s eye in center. It was his seventh homer of the season.
The big fifth inning by the Royals was startling based on how dominant Mize was through the first four. He was pitching off his slider, throwing 32 of them. He got six misses on 16 swings and eight called strikes with it.
He was giving up some hard contact with his two-seamer, but the Royals managed just three baserunners and two hits going into the fifth.
Hinch had Daniel Norris warming up after the third single. But Mize seemed to settle down. He punched out Whit Merrifield for the second time, both on three pitches, and got Santana to fly to left.
Perez was 6 for 11 against Mize coming in, but Mize had gotten him out in the first and fourth. Not this time.
The Tigers have lost six straight road games.
