Volquez Struggles as Tigers Avoid Sweep with 7-4 Win

An 8th inning Tigers rally helped Detroit avoid a sweep at the hands of the first-place Royals, beating Kansas City 6-4 Wednesday night.

The Tigers jumped on Royals starter Edinson Volquez quickly as Anthony Gose singled to begin the game.

After a Volquez throwing error, Gose would shuffle to third and eventually score on back to back fly balls by Ian Kinsler and Victor Martinez, giving Detroit a 1-0 lead.

After Tigers starter Daniel Norris tossed a hitless first inning, his offense picked him up again in the top of the 2nd, behind a leadoff double by Tyler Collins and an RBI single by Nick Castellanos.

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After giving up the two early runs, Volquez settled into a groove.

After Victor Martinez singled with two outs in the 3rd, the Tigers didn’t manage another baserunner until James McCann singled to begin the top of the 8th, spanning 13 batters overall.

The Royals got both runs back in the bottom of the 3rd when Alcides Escobar tripled home Alex Rios before scoring on a throwing error by Jose Iglesias.

Kansas City took the lead the very next innings on back to back doubles by Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer to make it a 3-2 ball game.

They added another run in the 4th on a Omar Infante sacrifice fly, scoring Hosmer, making it 4-2 Royals

The score stayed at 4-2 until the top of the 8th, when the first four Tigers reached base off of Volquez, the last of which being Ian Kinsler on a game-tying, two-RBI double.

The double chased Volquez in favor of Kelvin Herrera, who inherited runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out.

In total, Volquez threw seven-plus innings, giving up five earned runs on eight hits, while striking out five and walking two.

He got Victor Martinez to fly out to shallow center field before giving up a RBI-single to J.D. Martinez, giving the Tigers a 5-4 lead.

Tyler Collins followed by reaching on a fielders-choice, scoring Kinsler, to pad the Tigers lead at 6-4.

The Tigers added another run in the 9th on an RBI-double to make it 7-4.

The Royals threatened in the ninth but didn’t come away with any runs, falling 7-4.

The loss dropped the Royals to 68-45, while the Tigers improved to 55-59.

Next: Los Angeles Angels vs. Kansas City Royals, 7:10 PM CT, Kauffman Stadium; RHP Garrett Richards (11-9, 3.51 ERA) vs. RHP Jeremy Guthrie (8-7, 5.84 ERA)

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