Christin Stewart hit the first two homers of his career during the first two innings and drove in six runs, powering the host Detroit Tigers to an 11-8 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night.
Stewart hit a two-run shot and a three-run blast and added a bases-loaded walk for Detroit (62-91). Nicholas Castellanos homered and scored twice, while JaCoby Jones had two hits and also scored two runs. Ronny Rodriguez finished 3-for-5.
Zac Reininger (1-0) collected his first major league win while giving up two runs in 2 1/3 innings of relief.
Jorge Bonifacio, Brian Goodwin, Hunter Dozier and Adalberto Mondesi homered for the Royals (52-101). Whit Merrifield supplied three hits and two runs.
The Royals' Jorge Lopez (2-5), who was questionable to start due to a rib contusion, only lasted one-plus inning. He was tagged for seven runs on eight hits, including both of Stewart's homers.
Detroit's Matthew Boyd only stuck around for 1 1/3 innings, as he surrendered five runs (two earned) on six hits.
Kansas City took a 3-0 lead in the first on Bonifacio's homer. Boyd would have gotten out of the inning if not for a one-out error by third baseman Rodriguez.
Detroit responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning. After Jones' leadoff single, Stewart drilled his first career homer over the right field wall. Castellanos followed with a long ball of his own. Grayson Greiner's two-out sacrifice fly knocked in the final run of the frame.
Kansas City took a short-lived, 5-4 lead in the second on Goodwin's two-run homer.
Stewart's second homer highlighted a five-run second. That three-run shot with no outs ended Lopez's night. Glenn Sparkman entered the game and promptly gave up a pair of extra-base hits, a Castellanos triple and Victor Martinez's second double of the night. Martinez scored on a Greiner single.
Kansas City cut its deficit to 9-7 in the fourth. Merrifield hit a one-out single and Dozier clubbed a two-run shot over the center field fence off Reininger.
Peter Kozma's RBI double and Stewart's bases-loaded walk made it 11-7 in the seventh.
In the ninth, Mondesi homered off Shane Greene, who was pitching in a non-save situation.
--Field Level Media
Kansas City | Detroit | |
Jorge Lopez | Player | Matthew Boyd |
Loss | W/L | No Decision |
1.0 | IP | 1.1 |
0 | Strikeouts | 1 |
8 | Hits | 6 |
63.00 | ERA | 13.50 |
Kansas City | Detroit | |
Alcides Escobar | Player | Ronny Rodriguez |
3 | Hits | 3 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
4 | TB | 4 |
.750 | Avg | .600 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Kansas City | 12 | 4 | 27 | .293 | 16 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Detroit | 14 | 3 | 29 | .378 | 14 | 3 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 2 |