DETROIT — Seth Lugo pitched seven scoreless innings and the Kansas City Royals won their fourth straight game, beating the Detroit Tigers 8-0 on Friday.
Lugo (4-1) allowed three singles and matched a career high with nine strikeouts in a game played at 1:10 pm due to the NFL draft festivities in downtown Detroit on Friday evening.
“Being aggressive is always part of my plan, but I just had really good fastball command,” he said. “They took some early swings that gave me an idea of what their approach was going to be throughout the game.”
Tigers starter Reese Olson (0-4) allowed one run on three hits and three walks in seven innings, striking out eight.
Kansas City led 1-0 before scoring seven runs in the ninth inning.
“Lugo is a throwback to the guys who pitched, moved the ball around and changed speeds,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said.
With one out in the third, Adam Frazier and Kyle Isbel singled before Maikel Garcia walked to load the bases for the Royals. Bobby Witt Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to center.
The Tigers thought they had the lead in the bottom of the third, but Frazier reached over the right-field fence to rob Parker Meadows of a home run before doubling Javier Báez off first.
“I just tried to get back there with some space to jump,” Frazier said. “I wasn’t sure if I would have a chance at it with the wind, but fortunately I was able to do it.”
Detroit got a hit and an error against former teammate John Schreiber in the eighth, but he struck out Spencer Torkelson to end the inning.
The Royals loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, thanks to two singles and a walk off Tyler Holton. Holton, usually one of Detroit’s best control pitchers, then hit Frazier and Isbel with consecutive pitches to make it 3-0.
“He really didn’t have command,” Hinch said. “That’s really unusual for him — he rarely misfires at all. He was in a perfect spot facing two lefties, and he sailed the ball into their elbows, so I had to get him out of there.”
Garcia greeted Will Vest with a two-run single to put the Royals up by five, and Witt tripled before Vinnie Pasquantino’s sacrifice fly made it 8-0.
“We did a good job of creating traffic against Holton and then we took advantage of a little wildness,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. Then we were able to tack on with Mikael and Bobby both coming up big.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Tigers C Carson Kelly (ribs) wasn’t available for the game. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said the team might make a roster move to avoid playing with one healthy catcher. ... Tigers utilityman Andy Ibáñez (hamstring) started a rehab assignment on Thursday, going 2-3 with a double for Triple-A Toledo.
UP NEXT
The teams play the second game of the series on Saturday evening. RHP Casey Mize (1-0, 2.95) is scheduled to start for Detroit against RHP Brady Singer (3-0, 1.82).
