By MATT PIKE
Nick Loftin and John Rave each hit home runs, Kyle Isbel drove in three runs and the Kansas City Royals extended their winning streak to eight games and completed a perfect homestand with an 11-7 victory over the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals' winning streak is their longest since May 2024. Kansas City has won seven straight at home, only the fourth time in franchise history the team has completed an undefeated homestand of seven or more games. John Schreiber improved to 1-3 out of the bullpen, throwing 0.2 innings in the fifth. Starting pitcher Daniel Lynch IV threw 4.1 innings giving up two runs and allowing four hits while striking out two.
After Detroit took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI double by Kevin McGonigle, driving in Gleyber Torres, Isbel drove in the first runs of the game for the Royals in the second inning with a two-run single scoring Salvador Perez and Rave, and Loftin extended the lead with a three run shot over the left-center field wall, bringing home Tyler Tolbert and Isbel putting Kansas City up 5-1. In the inning, Perez stole second base, his first steal of the season, and first since the 2021 season. It was also his first stolen base at Kauffman Stadium since 2017.
The Tigers stormed back against relief pitcher Mason Black, who came on for Lynch in the top of the fifth inning. Gleyber Torres drove in Max Clark with a run-scoring groundout. Hao-Yu Lee added an RBI single bringing home Javier Báez and McGonigle scored Lee with game-tying home run. In the bottom half of the inning, the Royals took the lead back scoring four runs Vinnie Pasquantino and Perez hitting back-to-back RBI doubles, driving in Loftin and Pasquantino, before Rave extended the Royals' lead to 9-5 with a two-run home run to right field, bringing in Perez.
Clark drove in a run for Detroit in the sixth inning with a groundout, scoring Spencer Torkelson and Ben Malgeri walked with the bases loaded in the seventh inning, bringing home Lee to cap the scoring for the Tigers. Isbel and Loftin added RBI singles in the eighth inning, driving in Rave and Isbel respectively, to finish out the scoring, before Steven Cruz threw a scoreless ninth inning. At the plate, Loftin was 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs. Rave was 2-for-3 with a home run and a walk with two RBIs and two stolen bases.
Kansas City is off on Monday and will travel to Toronto on Tuesday. Seth Lugo (5-7, 4.71 ERA, 111Ks) is set to start for the Royals against Max Scherzer (1-6, 7.40 ERA, 32Ks) for the Blue Jays. First pitch is at 6:07pm, pregame will air at 5:30 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM) on Tuesday.
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