 gave up just one hit - a single by Niko Goodrum to leadoff the fourth - and walked two while striking out six in 6 1/3 innings. He got his second career win, and first since Sept. 15, 2013, for San Diego against Atlanta.Injuries limited the right-hander's career to just 5 1/3 innings the next three seasons. The Royals obtained Smith in the Rule 5 draft last December. He was making his third start of the year after beginning the season with 24 relief appearances.Smith retired nine straight after Goodrum's single before walks to Nicholas Castellanos and Jeimer Candelario with one out in the seventh ended his night.Tim Hill came on and gave up a three-run homer to Victor Martinez, the only batter he faced, in a 10-pitch at-bat as Detroit pulled to 5-3. Kevin McCarthy retired all five batters he faced, and Wily Peralta gave up at triple to Castellanos and a run-scoring grounder to Candelario in the ninth before finishing up for his fifth save.Whit Merrifield doubled to open the first and scored on Moustakas' 20th homer, into the Royals' bullpen, in the first off Jordan Zimmermann (4-2).Perez, who finished with three hits, had an RBI single in the third, a solo homer in the fifth, and a double in the eighth.Jorge Bonifacio doubled and scored on Jose Iglesias' fielding error on Brian Goodwin's grounder in the sixth to make it 5-0.Zimmermann, who had not worked in 13 days and had two cortisone shots for back pain, gave up four runs and seven hits in five innings. He lost to the Royals for the first time after coming in 4-0 with a 1.48 ERA in seven career appearances against Kansas City.BRETT WELCOMES TRUMPRoyals Hall of Fame 3B George Brett welcomed President Donald Trump on Tuesday to Kansas City, meeting him at the airport. Trump was in town to speak to the VFW national convention and for a fundraiser for Republican senatorial candidate Josh Hawley.The day also marked the 35th anniversary of Brett's Pine Tar Game at Yankee Stadium.MOUSTAKAS JOIN POWER ELITEMoustakas joins six other Royals with four seasons of 20 or more home runs. The others are Brett, Carlos Beltran, Steve Balboni, Bo Jackson, Mike Sweeney and John Mayberry.ROSTER MOVESRoyals: INF Adalberto Mondesi was reinstated from the family medical emergency leave list. To make roster space, the Royals optioned OF Paulo Orlando, who hit .167 in 25 games, to Triple-A Omaha.TRAINER'S ROOMTigers: RHP Johnny Barbato (rotator cuff tendinitis) allowed three runs on one hit and two walks, while retiring only two in a rehab start with Class-A Lakeland. ... Highly-touted prospect RHP Kyle Funkhouser, 24, fractured his right foot fifth metatarsal while walking home after a game. Funkhouser, a 2016 fourth round pick out of Louisville, was recently promoted to Triple-A Toledo.Royals: RHP Blaine Boyer (lower back strain) made 13 pitches and retired two batters in a minor league rehab start Tuesday for Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He walked one and struck out one. RHP Jesse Hahn (elbow strain) threw one scoreless inning in the second game of the doubleheader against Arkansas. He allowed one hit, throwing six strikes in 10 pitches.UP NEXTTigers: LHP Matthew Boyd is 0-2 with a 3.46 ERA in two starts against KC this season.Royals: LHP Danny Duffy is 5-2 with a 2.58 ERA in his past 11 starts.---More baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball)
Tigers' Zimmermann at home in Kansas City facing Royals 1h ago• 3 min read KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Jordan Zimmermann likes pitching at Kauffman Stadium and for a good reason.Zimmermann has a perfect record and a miniscule ERA in pitching in Kansas City. Zimmermann will start for the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday in the sandwich game of this series against the Royals.Zimmermann is 4-0 with a 1.48 ERA in six career starts and one relief appearance at Kansas City. His ERA leads all active pitchers, minimum 40 innings, at KC. He ranks third with a 0.98 WHIP and seventh with a .226 opponents batting average. He is 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA in his six starts, allowing six earned runs over 39 2/3 innings and striking out 35."Yeah, I don't really know (why)," Zimmermann said of his success in KC. "I just know that my numbers have been pretty good. I don't know if it is the mound that I like, but it seems like every time that I go out it is a pretty good outing. There's nothing that I can really point a finger to other than just getting lucky, I guess." In a May 5 start at Kauffman Stadium, Zimmermann pitched five scoreless innings to pick up the victory. He allowed two hits, struck out five and walked three."I'm feeling good," Zimmermann said. "I got a shot just before the All-Star break, in my back. I don't think it's going to hamper anything. I've thrown a bullpen, been playing catch, and everything is feeling good. I'm ready to get going in the second half." Zimmermann is 4-1 with a 3.71 ERA in a dozen starts this season. He suffered his first loss in his last start, yielding four runs on 11 hits and a walk, while striking out five in 6 2/3 innings at Tampa Bay.It has been 13 days and two cortisone injections since that start. He is 3-1 with a 1.85 ERA and holding opposing batters to a .200 average against him in his last seven starts.The Royals will counter with right-hander Burch Smith, who they acquired in the December Rule Five draft. This will be Smith's third start this season and his first at home."It will be fun," Smith said. "I'm excited to pitch here. It's a good place to pitch. I really like this stadium a lot." Smith has a 6.46 ERA in 14 bullpen outings at Kauffman Stadium. He is 0-1 with a 5.98 ERA in his two road starts. He made 24 relief appearances before being inserted into the rotation."I've started more games in my career than coming out of the bullpen, so I guess there is some familiarity there, but I'm comfortable doing either one at this point," Smith said. "I've been in the bullpen long enough to be comfortable with that, so either one I'm good with. As long as I'm here, I'll do anything." Smith started 58 of 61 games in the minors, but missed nearly three years, 2014-16, with injuries after making his big league debut in 2013 with the San Diego Padres."First of all, I'm happy I'm healthy the whole year," he said. "That was my number one goal coming into this season. I think I've done some good stuff. You can always get better. I continue to get better every day." The Tigers won the first game of the series, rallying with a three-run ninth for a 5-4 victory. It was only the second Detroit victory in 50 games when trailing after eight innings.Outfielder Brian Goodwin, who the Royals acquired in a Sunday trade with the Washington Nationals, arrived. Although he did not start, Goodwin went 2-for-2 in his debut."It was interesting, a whirlwind, everything just happened so fast," Goodwin said. "I got the news and then I was hustling, trying to get here as quick as possible." Goodwin missed six weeks with a bruised wrist from mid-April to June 1."There was nothing we could do to speed up the process, but give it time," Goodwin said. "I'm glad that's behind me." Royals infielder Adalberto Mondesi is expected to return Tuesday. He has been in the Dominican Republic on the family emergency list.
Looking for More Picks?
You can browse all the individual handicapper picks below.
Detroit Tigers
Kansas City Royals
Pick Center
MLB
FINAL (7/24/2018)
LegendNextDoor
