Ian Kennedy recorded his second straight victory after going winless in 17 consecutive appearances and Alex Gordon supplied three hits and drove in a run, leading the Kansas City Royals to a 4-3 win over the sloppy Detroit Tigers on Friday night.

Kennedy (3-8) lasted seven innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out six. Wily Peralta escaped a ninth-inning jam for his 12th save.

Rosell Herrera doubled, tripled, scored a run and added an RBI for Kansas City (53-101).

Francisco Liriano (5-11) gave up all four runs but only one was earned as the Tigers (62-92) made three errors. Ronny Rodriguez hit a solo homer and Nicholas Castellanos contributed a pair of run-scoring doubles.

Detroit's fielding issues started with the second batter of the game. Adalberto Mondesi reached on an error by second baseman Dawel Lugo. With Mondesi running, Gordon followed with a single to left. Christin Stewart hesitated to throw the ball back in and Mondesi kept running all the way to home plate.

Aggressive baserunning also helped the Royals score a run in the third. Whit Merrifield reached on a bunt single, stole second and scored one out later on Gordon's single to left.

Kansas City scored two more unearned runs in the fourth to take a 4-0 lead. Jorge Bonifacio drew a leadoff walk. Alcides Escobar followed with a dribbler near the mound. Liriano fired an accurate throw to first baseman Jarrod Saltalamacchia but the ball whistled past his glove, allowing Bonifacio to reach third.

Bonifacio was picked off third by catcher James McCann but Herrera then doubled to drive in Escobar. When Stewart bobbled the ball, Herrera reached third. He came in on Cam Gallagher's sacrifice fly.

Detroit got on the board on Rodriguez's fifth homer leading off the fifth.

Castellanos' first run-scoring double in the sixth made it 4-2. His second RBI double cut the Royals' lead to one in the eighth.

Detroit had two runners on with one out in the ninth, but Peralta struck out Lugo and Jim Adduci to end the game.

--Field Level Media