Royals 9, Tigers 5
Alex Gordon homered among four hits, and Salvador Perez went 3-for-3 with his first career homer as the visiting Kansas City Royals routed the Detroit Tigers, 9-5, on Monday.
Alcides Escobar added a solo blast, and Johnny Giavotella drove in three for the Royals, who have won back-to-back games for the first time since Aug. 3-4.
The Tigers’ lead in the American League Central slipped to five games over the Chicago White Sox, who beat Minnesota, and 5.5 games ahead of Cleveland, a victor over Oakland.
Max Scherzer (13-8) started for Detroit and struggled from the outset, yielding Gordon’s 19th blast leading off the game. Perez added an RBI double in the second, and Giavotella slammed a bases-loaded double in the third to make it 5-0.
Perez and Escobar homered back-to-back leading off the fourth to end Scherzer’s night.
Luke Hochevar (9-10) allowed four runs and seven hits in seven innings to earn the victory. The former No. 1 overall pick struck out seven in ending a four-start winless streak.
Miguel Cabrera had three hits and an RBI for the Tigers.