DETROIT (AP) — Tomás Nido and Andy Ibáñez hit solo homers and rookie Jackson Jobe pitched five strong innings to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 7-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.
Spencer Torkelson delivered a two-run double in the seventh for his AL-leading 13th extra-base hit for the Tigers.
Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. doubled in the first to extend his hitting streak to 11 games, scoring on Vinnie Pasquantino’s double for a 1-0 lead.
Nido, who went 3 for 4, homered for the first time with the Tigers to tie it in the second. Ibáñez’s solo shot leading off the fourth put them ahead for good.
Jobe (2-0) allowed one run on five hits.
Riley Greene and Trey Sweeney had RBI singles in a three-run fifth to chase Royals starter Cole Ragans (1-1), whose team record-tying streak of three straight starts with 10-plus strikeouts ended. Ragans gave up five runs on six hits in four innings, striking out eight for a major league-best 39.
Witt singled and scored on Pasquantino’s single in the ninth off Kenta Maeda. Tommy Kahnle got the final two outs for his fourth save.
The Royals have lost five straight and are 1-7 so far on a 10-game road trip.
Key moment
The Royals sent the tying run to the plate with one out in the ninth, but Kahnle struck out Cavan Biggio before Drew Waters lined out to end it.
Key stat
The Royals began the day averaging 2.95 runs — ahead of only the Rockies. They have scored four runs or less in 19 of 21 games and haven’t scored more than four since April 4 against Baltimore.
Up next
RHP Seth Lugo (1-2, 3.86 ERA) starts for the Royals, who have dropped the first two in the four-game series. The Tigers counter with RHP Casey Mize (2-1, 2.60).
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