MLB Game Recap - Detroit at Kansas City
Thu Sep 5, 2019 1:15 PM EDT

PHI
3
CIN
4
F(11)
CHW
7
CLE
1
F
SF
0
STL
10
F
DET
6
KC
4
F
LAA
6
OAK
10
F
MIA
10
PIT
7
F
TEX
3
BAL
1
F
CHC
10
MIL
5
F
MIN
2
BOS
1
F
TOR
4
TB
6
F
WSH
2
ATL
4
F
SEA
9
HOU
11
F(13)

September 5, 2019 1:15 PM

Final

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Detroit

0

0

1

3

0

2

0

0

0

6

11

0

Kansas City

0

3

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

4

12

1

W: Boyd (8-10)

L: Sparkman (3-11)

S: Jimenez (5)

DET - HR: Lugo (4) , Dixon (15) , Mercer (8)

KC - HR: none

Mercer homers in rare Tigers' rally, 6-4 win over Royals
Thu Sep 5, 2019 6:17 PM

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Jordy Mercer fired up his teammates and helped them end to another skid in a sorry season.

Mercer put the Tigers ahead with their third home run of the fourth inning, and Detroit overcame a three-run deficit in a victory for the first time this year by beating the Kansas City Royals 6-4 Thursday.

"That excited the dugout," Detroit manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We played pretty good baseball in this series."

Detroit, which stopped a four-game losing streak, is a big league-worst 41-97 and Kansas City at 51-90 also is on pace for more than 100 losses.

Kansas City built a 3-0 lead in the second against Matthew Boyd (8-10) when Whit Merrifield hit a two-run single and scored on Adalberto Mondesi's double. Merrifield had four hits, one shy of his career high.

Harold Castro started the comeback with an RBI single in the third, and Detroit took a 4-3 lead in the fourth off Glenn Sparkman (3-11) when Brandon Dixon and Dawel Lugo homered on consecutive pitches with one out and Mercer went deep with two outs for the Tigers' first three-homer inning this year.

"We've talked about the importance of tack-on runs, and we just couldn't do it," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "We couldn't tack on runs until the eighth inning. We tacked on one, and I was hoping that one run would be big. It looked like it was starting to loom big in the ninth."

Pinch-hitter Willi Castro had a two-run single in the sixth off Josh Staumont. Castro replaced Mercer, who left because of a bruised right wrist. An X-ray was negative.

Cheslor Cuthbert had a run-scoring grounder in the eighth against Bryan Garcia.

Boyd allowed three runs and 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings, and Joe Jimenez got three outs for his fifth save in six chances.

"I think he controlled the game," Gardenhire said of Boyd. "He got into a little bit of a groove. I think he made some minor adjustments. The first couple of innings his breaking ball was going across the zone. He started getting it to go down. Once he did that, he was fine."

Sparkman gave up four runs and seven hits in four innings.

UP NEXT

Tigers: After completing a suspended game that resumes with Detroit trailing Oakland 5-3 in the seventh inning, RHP Spencer Turnbull (3-14, 4.45 ERA) starts for the Tigers and Homer Bailey (12-8, 4.96 ERA) for the Athletics. The game was suspended by rain in Detroit on May 19.

Royals: In Kansas City's first game against the Marlins since 2016, RHP Jorge Lopez (2-7, 6.61 ERA) starts at Miami on Friday against RHP Pablo Lopez (5-7, 4.89 ERA).

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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports

Pitchers of Record

Detroit IP H ER BB K ERA WHIP
M. Boyd (W, 8-10) 6.1 10 3 0 6 4.26 1.579
J. Jimenez (S, 5) 1 1 0 1 1 0.00 2.000
Kansas City IP H ER BB K ERA WHIP
G. Sparkman (L, 3-11) 4 7 4 0 2 9.00 1.750

Batting Leaders

Detroit AB H R HR RBI BB TB SB RC
J. Mercer 2 2 2 1 1 0 6 0 6.0
D. Lugo 4 2 2 1 1 0 5 0 2.5
Kansas City AB H R HR RBI BB TB SB RC
W. Merrifield 5 4 1 0 2 0 5 0 4.0
H. Dozier 3 3 1 0 0 1 3 0 3.3

Team Comparison

DET KC
At Bats 37 36
Hits 11 12
Batting Average .297 .333
On Base Percentage .333 .385
Slugging Percentage 0.595 0.417
Doubles 2 3
Triples 0 0
Home Runs 3 0
Total Bases 22 15
Walks 2 2
Strikeouts 9 9
Stolen Bases 0 1
Caught Stealing 1 1
Runners Left On Base 6 8
Hits / At Bats with Runners In Scoring Position 2/9 1/7
Double Plays Fielded 6 0
Errors 0 1

2019 Reg Season - DET Leads Series 10-9

Date Result Winner Loser
Thu Apr 4 KC 4 @ DET 5 B. Hardy K. Zimmer
Sat Apr 6 KC 4 @ DET 7 V. Alcantara K. McCarthy
Sun Apr 7 KC 1 @ DET 3 T. Ross B. Keller
Fri May 3 KC 3 @ DET 4 M. Boyd J. Lopez
Sat May 4 KC 15 @ DET 3 H. Bailey T. Ross
Sun May 5 KC 2 @ DET 5 B. Farmer I. Kennedy
Tue Jun 11 DET 2 @ KC 3 S. Barlow V. Alcantara
Wed Jun 12 DET 3 @ KC 2 N. Ramirez J. Diekman
Thu Jun 13 DET 3 @ KC 7 H. Bailey M. Boyd
Fri Jul 12 DET 5 @ KC 8 J. Newberry B. Hardy
Sat Jul 13 DET 1 @ KC 4 B. Keller M. Boyd
Sun Jul 14 DET 12 @ KC 8 N. Ramirez B. Flynn
Thu Aug 8 KC 8 @ DET 10 J. Jimenez R. Lovelady
Fri Aug 9 KC 2 @ DET 5 E. Jackson B. Keller
Sat Aug 10 KC 7 @ DET 0 M. Montgomery S. Turnbull
Sun Aug 11 KC 10 @ DET 2 J. Junis D. Norris
Tue Sep 3 DET 5 @ KC 6 I. Kennedy Z. Reininger
Wed Sep 4 DET 4 @ KC 5 J. Junis E. Jackson
Thu Sep 5 DET 6 @ KC 4 M. Boyd G. Sparkman

Game Information

Stadium: Ewing M. Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
Attendance: 14,736
Game Time: 2:59
Weather: 85F, Clear
Wind:
Umpires: Home Plate - ?, First Base - ?, Second Base - ?, Third Base - ?