Tigers rally with seven consecutive runs, down Royals in opener

Chris McCosky, The Detroit News on Aug 22, 2025

Published in Baseball

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DETROIT — The Kansas City Royals, who have the fourth-best record in baseball since July 1 (27-16) and had won eight of their last 11, came into Comerica Park fighting for their playoff lives, trailing the Tigers by 9.5 games in the Central Division.

The Tigers, sizzling themselves the last two weeks, more than matched their grit and intensity Friday night.

On Central Michigan University night, Chippewa alum Zach McKinstry homered, tripled and then scored the go-ahead run on a mad dash from first base in a four-run seventh inning, sending the Tigers to a 7-5 win.

McKinstry led off the inning with a bullet single off lefty reliever Bailey Falter. Javier Baez followed with a single to right. McKinstry never stopped around second, challenging the arm of right fielder Randal Grichuk.

The throw to third got by third baseman Maikel Garcia and, much to the delight of the large and animated crowd, steamed home to break a 3-3 tie.

Pinch-hitter Andy Ibanez (single), Gleyber Torres (double) and Wenceel Perez (single) knocked in some insurance runs.

It was the Tigers’ eighth win in their last nine games.

But this was a very different ballgame one inning prior to that when Riley Greene stepped into the box against lefty reliever Angel Zerpa.

There were two outs and a runner on in the bottom of the sixth inning and the Tigers were trailing 3-1.

Royals right-handed starter Ryan Bergert, who has held lefties to a .159 average in his short big league time, had allowed just one hit to the Tigers’ lefties through 5 2/3 innings, and that was a solo homer by McKinstry (11) in the third inning.

Still, the percentage play was to bring in the lefty Zerpa to face Greene. Greene’s OPS against lefties was .594 and he’d hit just two homers. This time, Greene flipped the percentages upside down.

After fouling off three two-strike pitches, Greene unloaded on a slider, sending it 435 feet into the seats in right-center to tie the game.

It was Greene’s 30th homer of the season and RBI Nos. 93 and 94.

Momentum shifted.

The Royals banged Casey Mize around a good bit in his six innings but they never broke him.

They produced nine hits and made several long and loud outs. But when Mize handed manager AJ Hinch the ball with two outs in the sixth, the damage was contained to a three-spot in the third inning.

Three consecutive singles, the last by Bobby Witt, Jr., plated one run. And just when it looked like Mize was going to keep it to just that one run, Salvador Perez spanked a two-out, two-run double into the left-field corner.

With Mike Yastrzemski at third and one out, Mize got Garcia to bounce one to Spencer Torkelson, who was playing in at first base. Torkelson made a strong throw to the plate and Dillon Dingler applied the tag for the second out.

But Mize could hardly exhale. Perez whacked a first-pitch slider, down and away, and hooked inside the left-field line.

Through three innings, the Royals had put 15 balls in play against Mize with an average exit velocity of 97 mph. Some of the outs were hit harder than the base hits.

But he allowed just one hit after that. Kyle Isbel singled in the fourth but made the mistake of testing the arm of right fielder Wenceel Perez. Perez fielded the ball quickly and made a textbook pivot and threw him out at second base.

It was the fifth outfield assist for Perez this season.

Mize left a 3-1 game with two outs in the sixth. There were nine hits on his ledger and no strikeouts. He got only three swings-and-misses on 41 swings and the average exit velocity on 24 balls in play was a still robust 90.9 mph.

The important part, though, was that the Tigers were still in the game.

Rookie lefty Drew Sommers, his contract just purchased from Triple-A Toledo, made his big league debut, finishing the sixth by getting lefty John Rave to fly out to left field.

Sommers stayed in to start the seventh and walked a pair of right-handed pinch hitters and Hinch went into playoff managerial mode.

The game was still tied and the Royals’ big-boppers — Witt and Vinnie Pasquantino — were coming up. So he summoned right-hander Kyle Finnegan an inning or two earlier than usual.

Finnegan got Witt to bounce into a fast 4-6-3 double-play, with McKinstry making a strong throw to first, and Pasquantino to fly out to left.

Witt, who had grounded into just eight double-plays the last two years, hit into a pair of them Friday.

Finnegan worked around a walk and a catcher’s interference call and pitched a scoreless eighth inning, as well.

Pasquantino slugged a two-out, two-run homer off Will Vest in the ninth, but the only real drama left was whether McKinstry would hit for the cycle on CMU night. Alas, he flew out to center in his final at-bat.