KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Justin Verlander is turning back the clock to his vintage seasons.

Ian Kinsler drove in three runs and right-hander Verlander pitched impressively into the seventh inning in the Detroit Tigers' 6-5 triumph over the division-leading Kansas City Royals Tuesday night.

Second baseman Kinsler, who hit .362 with 18 RBIs in August, hit a two-run homer in the seventh off right-hander Miguel Almonte, who was just called up from Triple-A Omaha. Kinsler was the second batter Almonte faced in the majors.

Verlander, who threw a complete-game one-hit shutout against the Los Angeles Angles in his previous start for the Tigers' lone win in their past 10 games, stymied the Royals on seven hits, struck out four and walked one. Only two of the four runs off Verlander were earned.

"That's the Verlander we like to see," Tigers catcher James McCann said. "His stuff was very good tonight. There are not too many pitchers who can that, throw 85 pitches and add two to three miles per hour to their fastball. That's a good sign on hard he worked."

Verlander, who has a 0.76 ERA in his past five starts, was throwing harder in the seventh than early in the game, his final pitch clocked at 97 mph.

"It's a tough lineup to navigate through," Verlander said.

The Royals chased him in a two-run seventh and after 108 pitches. Left fielder Alex Gordon led off the inning with a double and catcher Salvador Perez singled. Both wound up scoring – Gordon on second baseman Omar Infante's ground out and Perez on shortstop Alcides Escobar's two-out single.

The Royals cut the lead to one run in the eighth off three Tigers' relievers with Perez's single scoring right fielder Lorenzo Cain, who led off the inning with a single.

Right-hander Bruce Rondon, who had an 11.57 ERA in his previous five outings, pitched the ninth to log his third save.

The Tigers jumped on Royals right-hander Johnny Cueto for three runs and six hits in the first two innings. He left after four runs and nine hits over six innings.

"Without a doubt I'm not happy with my performance in today's game," Cueto said through a translator. "But if you take a positive away from this game, I'm happy with the way I finished and I'm going to take it on to my side work and know it's not going to last long."

Left-fielder Anthony Gose opened the game with a single to center and advanced to second on Escobar's throwing error. He scored on first baseman Miguel Cabrera's single to left.

It has the potential to be a bigger inning when right fielder J.D. Martinez dumped a single into center, but Cabrera was thrown out by Jarrod Dyson attempting to take third.

The Tigers added two more runs on three hits in the third, which third baseman Nick Castellanos led off with a single and stopped at third on left fielder Tyler Collins' double. Castellanos scored on catcher James McCann's groundout. Shortstop Jose Iglesias singled home Collins. All six Tigers hits the first two innings were on two-strike Cueto pitches.

The Royals scored an unearned run off Verlander in the second. First baseman Eric Hosmer reached on Kinsler's fielding miscue to start the inning. Hosmer moved to third on designated hitter Kendrys Morales' ground ball single to right and scored on Gordon's sacrifice fly. It was Gordon's first game since July 8 when he suffered a groin injury.

"It felt like opening day for me," Gordon said. "I was a little nervous. I had some butterflies. I wanted just one play, maybe an easy pop up to get it out of the way, but it seemed like every ball was left and right and I had to go pretty far for them to make a play. After the first inning got over I started to feel back to normal, more like at home, so it was good."

The Tigers made it 4-1 in the fourth when Kinsler's two-out single scored Iglesias.

Morales homered, his 16th, in the fourth on a 1-0 Verlander slider to cut the Tigers' lead in half.

"It's a solo home run," Verlander said. "I can live with that, it's not a game changer. Solo home runs don't beat you unless you give up a bunch."

Cueto (2-4) gave up four runs on nine hits in six innings.

NOTES: LF Alex Gordon, who missed 48 games with a left groin injury, returned to the Royals' lineup Tuesday. OF Jonny Gomes joined the club after being acquired in a Monday trade with Atlanta. ... Kansas City RHP Kelvin Herrera and RF Alex Rios are expected to be out two weeks with chickenpox. ... The Royals recalled INFs Christian Colon and Cheslor Cuthbert and C Francisco Pena from Triple-A Omaha and OF Terrance Gore from Double-A Northwest Arkansas. They purchased the contracts of RHP Miguel Almonte and LHP Scott Alexander from Omaha. ... Royals 3B Mike Moustakas was out of the lineup with a pulled hamstring. ... The Tigers recalled C Bryan Holaday and LHP Kyle Ryan from Triple-A Toledo. ... Detroit LHP Randy Wolf and Kansas City RHP Yordano Ventura are the pitching probables for Wednesday. Gomes is a career .522 hitter against Wolf.