*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
On a surprising hot streak, the motor city team continued to rake. Willi Castro homered, Javier Baez added a homer of his own, and the Detroit Tigers routed the Kansas City Royals with a 10-3 victory on Thursday afternoon in Detroit.
The lowly 92 loss Tigers have looked like a completely different team as of late, one with promise and intrigue. The win against the Royals on Thursday marks their 6th in a row and 8th in 10 games, completing a sweep of their fellow basement dweller rivals in the AL Central.
Detroit manager AJ Hinch said after the game that "We're at 92 losses, so we're not going to celebrate anything, but we're happy to sweep again. We're playing better across the board, but as a manager, I know there are a lot of things we can do better. Still, winning is nice."
It was Castro who got the Tigers ahead early, making it 1-0 with a second inning solo home run to right field. The 5th inning saw the Tigers add to the lead, becoming 5-0 with Tucker Barnhart scoring on an error, Riley Greene hitting an RBI double, and Baez blasting a two run home run to left field. Barnhart hit an RBI single in the 6th inning to make it a 6-0 game.
The 7th inning saw the Tigers add 4 more runs to make it a 10-0 score. Baez scored on a bases loaded hit by pitch, Jeimer Candelario hit an RBI sac fly, Barnhart hit an RBI double, and Ryan Kreidler hit an RBI single. In the 8th inning, Ryan O'Hearn hit a two run double to make it a 10-2 game, and Nate Eaton hit an RBI double to make it a 10-3 score.
Baez said of his homer that "I just want to keep putting numbers and finish strong and healthy. I know I didn’t have a great year, but I’m looking forward to have a better year next year. As long as I can play, I want to be out there. It doesn’t matter if we’re out of it. Just focus. One big thing for me is controlling the things that I can control, just focus on baseball. We’ll see what happens next year, but we still have to focus and finish strong."
It was Eduardo Rodriguez who started for the Tigers, picking up the win. Rodriguez allowed just 5 hits and 4 walks, pitching 6 2/3 shutout innings. Jason Foley allowed 3 runs while working 2/3 of an inning, and Angel De Jesus pitched the next 1 2/3 innings pitched.
Jonathan Heasley got the start for the Royals, allowing 5 runs on 6 hits and one walk in 4 2/3 innings. Taylor Clarke finished the 5th, and Brad Keller worked the 6th inning. Max Castillo allowed 3 runs without recording an out, needing Luke Weaver to pitch two innings.
Royals manager Mike Matheny said after the game that "We needed that big hit and it eluded us for most of the last two days. It was good to see a couple of guys put a charge into the ball late in the game, but we were dealing with a pretty big gap by that point."
Up next, the Tigers welcome the Minnesota Twins to town on Friday night, with Tyler Alexander getting the start. The Royals hit the road to face the Cleveland Guardians, with Brady Singer starting.
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