Tigers 7, Royals 6: Comeback city

You start the day by scoreboard watching: Indians won (crap!), Orioles won (double crap!), Red Sox are winning (crap, crap, crap!). And then the Tigers try to kill you by blowing a four-run lead by having a bullpen meltdown in the seventh and eighth innings. Welcome to September! You missed this, didn’t you?

Fortunately, Tigers fan, Royals devil magic was avoided. Detroit rallied back with two runs in the ninth inning to win, 7-6, in KC, keeping pace with all of whom they chase.

Miguel Cabrera had a four-RBI day, hitting a 454-foot home run and driving in both Tigers’ runs in the ninth off Royals closer Wade Davis for the win. Justin Upton had a solo home run earlier and drove in two runs of his own.

Neither starting pitcher factored into the final. The Tigers forced KC starter Danny Duffy to throw 26 pitches in the first inning and scored three runs in the third inning to open up a 4-0 lead. Duffy finished at four runs on nine hits with eight strikeouts and drew no decision after exiting in the sixth.

Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez, however, gave three runs back in the bottom half of the inning. Kansas City recorded them on three hits and one error while sending eight batters to the plate in the frame. Sanchez’s day finished after five innings and just those three runs allowed. He struck out four and walked one.

So to the bullpens it went. The Tigers’ bullpen coughed up a 5-3 lead when Justin Wilson, Shane Greene (kinda) and Francisco Rodriguez combined to give up three runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Greene did his job in the seventh to bail out Wilson, but allowed on both base runners who scored in the eighth.

But Ian Kinsler was hit by a pitch to open the ninth against Davis, then Jose Iglesias and Cabrera recorded back-to-back hits off Wade Davis to give the Tigers back the lead before an out was even recorded.

Roars

Justin Upton: Drove in runs his first two at-bats with a solo home run to deep center and a single up the middle.

Miguel Cabrera: Saw Justin Upton’s home and hit it even farther, sending it over the fountain in left-center to give the Tigers at 5-3 lead in the seventh inning. It went 454 feet, per StatCast. Later Cabrera drove in two more runs in the ninth (his fourth RBI of the night) to give the Tigers a 7-6 lead. He finished 3-for-5.

Tigers bullpen: Alex Wilson looked great. Shane Green bailed out Justin Wilson in the seventh and got the first two outs of the eighth. But ...

Hisses

Tigers bullpen: Justin Wilson gave up a run on three straight hits to start the seventh inning before being pulled. Shane Greene escaped the seventh but left two base runners on in the eighth, and even though Francisco Rodriguez made his pitch the Royals managed to score two runs to take a 6-5 lead in the eighth.

Stats and stuff

• Miguel Cabrera, with his third inning RBI single, recorded his 1,004th career RBI, breaking a tie with Alan Trammell to own sole possession of 10th-most RBI all-time for the franchise. (HT Tigers PR)
• Cabrera’s seventh-inning home run was the 437th of his career and 299th in the Tigers’ uniform. His next home run will make him the fourth to hit 300 for the franchise (HT Tigers PR)

Win Probability Chart