Tigers 8, Royals 4: Jose Iglesias powers Detroit to series win

Entering today, Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Danny Duffy had posted 20 innings of one earned run ball, with 21 strikeouts over that span. Nobody told the Tigers this, however, as they pounced on him for five runs in an 8-4 victory at Kauffman Stadium.

After a quiet first inning, each team scored in the second inning. John Hicks pounced on Duffy for a double, setting up Victor Martinez to single and drive him in. In the bottom half of the frame, Boyd experienced his most stressful inning, as he allowed three straight hits to Hunter Dozier, Alex Gordon (who drove in Dozier with an RBI double), and Alcides Escobar. With one out and runners on the corner, he struck out Adalberto Mondesi and Whit Merrifield swinging to end the threat.

The action did not pick up again until the fourth inning, when the Tigers poured it on to Duffy. Once again, John Hicks set the table as he drew a walk. Victor Martinez then knocked his second single of the day. Then, while Ronny Rodriguez batted, a wild pitch got away from Salvador Perez, giving the Tigers a 2-1 lead. From there, JaCoby Jones singled to left field and Jose Iglesias knocked his fourth big fly of the year to left field to give the Tigers a 5-1 lead.

Matthew Boyd had his best start in quite some time today. His fastball reached as high as 94.8 miles per hour, and he struck out seven Royals batters thanks to very effective off-speed offerings. He did run into more trouble in the fifth inning as Whit Merrifield and Mike Moustakas strung together hits to drive in a second run, but the Tigers’ offense compensated by posting two more runs in the top of the sixth inning, as Jeimer Candelario scored on another Duffy wild pitch before knocking in Victor Reyes. Boyd finished the day with six strong innings, striking out seven and allowing seven hits and two earned runs.