DETROIT — — Spencer Torkelson homered to help the Detroit Tigers win their fifth straight game, 4-2 over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.
The teams entered the game with the best records in the American League in August. Detroit has won nine of its last 10 games.
Chris Paddack (5-11) picked up his second win as a Tiger, allowing one run in five innings.
Michael Wacha (8-10) had his four-start winning streak snapped, giving up three runs on eight hits in six innings.
The Tigers took the lead on Jake Rogers‘ RBI double in the third, but Vinnie Pasquatino doubled home Bobby Witt Jr. in the fourth.
Torkelson hit his 27th homer to make it 2-1 in the fourth, and Rogers gave Detroit a two-run lead with an RBI single in the fifth.
Witt, though, homered off Tigers reliever Troy Melton in the sixth to pull the Royals to 3-2.
Witt singled with one out in the eighth, took second on Riley Greene‘s error and moved to third on Pasquatino’s grounder back to the mound. A.J. Hinch brought in Will Vest, who struck out Maikel Garcia to end the inning.
Andy Ibáñez made it 4-2 with a pinch-hit homer in the eighth. Vest finished for his 19th save.
The Royals had runners on first and second with one out in the seventh, but Tyler Holton came out of the bullpen and got pinch-hitter Nick Loftin to ground into a 5-4-3 double play.
Pasquatino entered the game with homers in five straight games, matching the franchise record set by Mike Sweeney in 2002 and tied by Salvador Perez in 2024. He went 1 for 4 with the RBI double in the fourth inning.
Royals RHP Seth Lugo (8-6, 3.73 ERA) was set to face RHP Jack Flaherty (7-12., 4.51) on Sunday in the series finale.
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