Should Detroit Tigers call up MLB’s No. 2 prospect Kevin McGonigle?
On “Days of Roar,” Evan Petzold invites Chris Brown of “Tigers Minor League Report” to debate when the Tigers should call up their No. 1 prospect.
- The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-5, on Friday night at Comerica Park.
- Riley Greene tied it in the 6th inning with a 2-run homer for the Tigers.
- Zach McKinstry, on Central Michigan night, went 3-for-4 with a homer and a triple for the Tigers.
The Detroit Tigers showed their grit.
And they got the win.
Down in the early innings, the Tigers clawed back by scoring seven straight runs for a 7-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday, Aug. 22, in the first of three games in the series at Comerica Park. The rally featured two runs in the sixth inning and four runs in the seventh inning.
The Tigers (77-53) were sparked by Riley Greene tying the game with a two-run home run in the sixth inning, but Zach McKinstry delivered the first run of the comeback (and the Tigers’ first hit of the game) with a solo home run in the third inning.
Detroit has won four games in a row — and eight of its last nine.
In the sixth, the Tigers had a runner on first base and two outs when the Royals called on left-handed reliever Angel Zerpa for a matchup with Greene, who entered Friday hitting just .207 with a .594 OPS against left-handers.
This time, Greene won the left-on-left clash.
The 24-year-old, a two-time All-Star, demolished Zerpa’s sixth-pitch slider that caught too much of the plate for a 435-foot home run to right-center field.
It was his 30th homer in 126 games.
The two-run blast tied the game, 3-3.
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The floodgates opened in the seventh, as the Tigers scored four runs off left-handed reliever Bailey Falter — fueled by a leadoff single from McKinstry.
After McKinstry’s single, Javier Báez slapped a single to right field. On the single, McKinsry hustled from first to third on the bases, but a throwing error by right fielder Randal Grichuk sent the ball to the front of the Tigers’ dugout.
McKinstry didn’t think twice.
He dashed home and scored on a head-first slide for a 4-3 lead, taking advantage of the error.
The Tigers tacked on three more runs for a 7-3 lead in the seventh, thanks to pinch-hitter Andy Ibáñez’s RBI single, Gleyber Torres’ RBI double and Wenceel Pérez’s RBI single.
Aside from the offense, the Tigers received scoreless performances from two of three relievers: left-hander Drew Sommers and right-hander Kyle Finnegan. Right-hander Will Vest surrendered a two-run home run to Vinnie Pasquantino with two outs in the ninth inning, making it 7-5.
Pasquantino has hit a home run in five consecutive games.
In the seventh, Sommers — who recorded the final out in the sixth in his MLB debut — walked back-to-back batters, but Finnegan cleaned up his mess by getting Bobby Witt Jr. to ground into a double play and Pasquantino to fly out.
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Casey Mize starts
Right-hander Casey Mize allowed three runs on nine hits and one walk across 5⅔ innings — without any strikeouts. The 28-year-old, who had 10 strikeouts in his last start, generated just three whiffs on 41 swings for a 7.3% whiff rate.
The Royals collected seven of their nine hits off Mize in the first three innings.
They scored all three runs in the third inning, taking a 3-0 lead on Witt’s RBI single and Salvador Perez’s two-RBI double. The Perez double occurred with two outs.
Mize retired eight of his final 10 batters.
He owns a 3.68 ERA in 22 starts.
Zach McKinstry shines on ‘CMU Night’
It was “CMU Night” at Comerica Park.
McKinstry — an All-Star in 2025 who was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 33rd round out of Central Michigan in 2016 — put on a show for the CMU Chippewas in the crowd, finishing a double shy of the cycle.
With a cycle on the line, McKinstry flew out to center field in the eighth inning.
Not only did the 30-year-old use his legs for the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, but he also sparked the Tigers with their first hit and first run of the game — hitting a solo home run off right-hander Ryan Bergert with one out in the third inning.
His 11th homer cut the Tigers’ deficit to 3-1.
McKinstry also ripped a two-out triple off Bergert with two outs in the fifth inning, but he was stranded. He then hit a single off Falter to kickstart the three-run seventh inning.
In 2025, McKinstry is hitting .263 with an .795 OPS in 116 games. He played for Central Michigan in the 2015 and 2016 seasons before the Dodgers drafted him.
Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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