Pasquantino homers twice, Lugo goes 8 strong innings and Royals beat Tigers

DETROIT (AP) — Vinnie Pasquantino homered twice, Seth Lugo gave up just four hits over eight strong innings and the Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 7-1 on Thursday night.

Bobby Witt Jr. also homered for the Royals, who are 4-0 on their current road trip. Detroit has lost four in a row and been outscored 25-5 in those games.

Lugo (13-5) gave up one run, struck out three and walked one after going 1-3 in July. He is 7-0 with a 1.31 ERA in nine starts against the AL Central this season.

Keider Montero (1-5) allowed four runs on six hits in a career-high seven innings. The rookie, one of Detroit’s only two healthy starting pitchers, allowed three runs before he got an out, but settled down.

Maikel Garcia started the game with a single and stole second and third without throws. Witt walked and Pasquantino lined his 13th homer into the right-field stands for a 3-0 lead.

Bligh Madris got the Tigers on the board with a fourth-inning sacrifice fly, but Freddy Fermin’s RBI single gave Kansas City a 4-1 lead in the seventh.

Witt and Pasquantino hit back-to-back homers in the eighth off Brenan Hanifee. It was Pasquantino’s first multi-homer game, coming in the same stadium where he hit his first major league homer on July 1, 2022.

Witt added an RBI double in the ninth.

TRAINER’S ROOM
The Tigers, who only had 23 players on the active roster after the trading deadline, activated SS Javier Baez from the bereavement list and selected Hanifee and LHP Sean Guenther from Triple-A Toledo. Detroit will have 11 relievers for the four-game Royals series.

UP NEXT
The teams play the second of the four-game series on Friday night, with Tigers LHP Tarik Skubal (12-3, 2.35) facing LHP Cole Ragans (7-7, 3.37).