Bobby Witt Jr. crushed a two-run homer in the eighth inning, breaking a tie and sending the Kansas City Royals to a 3-1 win over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium.
The Tigers (79-58) and Royals (70-66) have split the first two games of their three-game series.
Tigers left-hander Tyler Holton retired the first batter of the eighth before walking pinch-hitter Tyler Tolbert. Witt followed by crushing a 427-foot blast to straightaway center.
Tigers starter Jack Flaherty turned in a strong outing, holding Kansas City to one run on four hits over 5 2/3 innings. The lone damage against him came on a solo homer by Maikel Garcia in the fourth.
Reliever Tommy Kahnle entered in the sixth with a runner on first and two outs, striking out Garcia on four consecutive changeups. He added two more strikeouts in a scoreless seventh.
Stephen Kolek, making his Royals debut after being acquired from San Diego at the trade deadline, allowed one run on four hits over six innings. Detroit pushed across its only run in the third, stringing together three singles capped by an RBI knock from Gleyber Torres.
This story will be updated.
Up next: The series concludes on Sunday at 2:10 p.m. Eastern time.
Tigers ace left-hander Tarik Skubal (11-4, 2.28 ERA) will face Royals right-hander Michael Wacha (8-10, 3.39).
Wacha was originally in line to pitch Friday but has been on the paternity list for the birth of his second child.
Wacha last pitched on Aug. 23 in Detroit against the Tigers, allowing three runs in six innings in a losing effort.
Skubal had a 12-strikeout start on Aug. 25 at Sacramento, but his night ended with a grand slam by the Athletics’ Shea Langeliers.
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