 won his second straight start, permitting two earned runs and seven hits in seven-plus innings. He struck out six and walked none.Wily Peralta worked a shaky ninth for his 12th save. Ronny Rodriguez led off with an infield single, but James McCann bunted into a forceout at second. Jeimer Candelario drew a pinch-hit walk before Peralta struck out Dawel Lugo and Jim Adduci.Detroit left-hander Francisco Liriano (5-11) was charged with four runs, one earned, and six hits in six innings. He has a 1.88 ERA in his last four starts.Kansas City jumped in front on Detroit's first defensive mistake. With one out in the first, Adalberto Mondesi singled and took off on a 1-1 pitch to Gordon.Gordon looped a single to shallow left, and Mondesi took a big turn at third and kept going when rookie Christin Stewart lobbed the ball into second.Gordon added an RBI single in the third, and the Royals added two more runs in the fourth, aided by errors by first baseman Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Stewart.Rodriguez homered in the fifth for the Tigers, and Nicholas Castellanos doubled home a run in the sixth.Kennedy left after Pete Kozma reached on an error, and Castellanos made it 4-3 with a two-out double off Kevin McCarthy. Victor Martinez, playing in his next-to-last major league game, grounded out to first to end the inning.TRAINER'S ROOMTigers: With INFs Niko Goodrum (quad) and Candelario (back) still bothered by injuries, Harold Castro was promoted from Triple-A Toledo. Castro hadn't arrived by game time, and the Tigers ended up with Saltalamacchia playing first base for the first time since 2016.ONE MORE GAME FOR MARTINEZMartinez announced before Friday's game he will finish his 16-season career on Saturday against the Royals. Martinez will sit out Sunday's series finale and accompany the team on its final road trip without playing.''I feel like I owe it to the fans to have my final at-bats here,'' said Martinez, who will be honored in a pregame ceremony.UP NEXTThe teams play the third game of their series on Saturday night, with Detroit's Jordan Zimmermann (7-8, 4.41 ERA) facing Jakob Junis (8-12, 4.42 ERA).)
Veterans open on mound in Royals-Tigers series 1h ago 2 min read A couple veteran pitchers who are finishing strong after a rough season will square off Friday night in Detroit.Kansas City's Ian Kennedy and Detroit's Francisco Liriano have a combined 7-18 record with ERAs above 4.50. Yet both have delivered a couple quality starts this month.Kennedy (2-8, 4.73 ERA) faced Minnesota in back-to-back starts after returning from a left oblique strain that put him out of commission for nearly two months. He pitched six innings and limited the Twins to one earned run in each of those outings.Kennedy snapped his 17-game winless streak in his most recent start Saturday."I just knew it was a really long time," Kennedy told MLB.com. "It was a matter of time before it happened. Sometimes it's out of your control. There are some times when I pitch bad and sometimes when you pitch good and things don't work out. I was just happy to come back from the disabled list and pitch well." Liriano (5-10, 4.54 ERA) had a similar stretch this season. When he posted a victory over the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 4, it snapped a streak of 17 consecutive appearances without a win.He also picked up the victory in his last outing Sunday, holding Cleveland to three runs and five hits in seven innings with seven strikeouts. It helped that the Indians rested their regulars after clinching the American League Central the previous day.Liriano, 34, will become a free agent at the end of the season. He's hoping to land another contract and a solid September won't hurt."It's important to finish strong," he told the Detroit News. "Not just for me but for the whole team. Just want to finish strong and then see what happens next year." Tigers rookie left fielder Christin Stewart is certainly finishing strong. Stewart hit the first two homers of his career during the first two innings in the opener of the four-game series. The Tigers won the slugfest 11-8 in a game featuring seven homers."I'll remember this day for the rest of my life," said Stewart, who drove in six runs.Stewart hit 23 homers at Triple-A Toledo before his September call-up."Big smile on his face, I know that, and big home runs for us," Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. "This kid's had a heck of a year and it hasn't gone great for him so far offensively (with Detroit) and that just shows you a little bit of what he can do. He can get the barrel on the ball and put it in the seats." Detroit was swept in a three-game home series by Minnesota before handing Kansas City its 101st loss this season."We had a good night," Gardenhire said. "We had a lot of guys swinging the bats and running around after a really bad series against the Twins, where they kicked our butts. It was nice to come back here and win a ballgame." Liriano is 1-0 with a 2.28 ERA in four starts versus Kansas City this season and 8-5, 3.94 in 23 games (20 starts) in his career. Kennedy is 3-4, 3.59 in 10 starts versus Detroit, including a no-decision this season when he pitched six scoreless innings in the Royals' 4-2 victory May 4.
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