Pasquantino homers twice, Lugo goes 8 strong innings and Royals beat Tigers 7-1

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.

“Vinnie is a run producer and he’s had some big games for us lately — following up the homer yesterday with two today,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Bobby was in a mini-slump for him — he was 0 for 2 before he hit the homer and double.”

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.

“The game plan was just to attack hitters,” Lugo said. “I want the ball and I’m in a great place physically. I wanted the ninth, but (Quatraro) made the smart play there.”

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.

“We made an adjustment to the pitching plan after that inning,” he said through an interpreter. “We knew they were sitting on the slider, so we went to the fastball and the change to keep them off balance.”

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.

“With a runner on third and no one out, I’m just trying to get the ball in the air,” Pasquantino said.

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.

“Lugo is an All-Star and he’s smart,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s got a ton of pitches that he can use and he feeds off early-count overaggressiveness.”

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.

“It was nice to jog around the bases this time instead of getting tagged out at second,” said Pasquantino, whose first homer only came after a replay review. “It’s nice to have two great memories here.”

Witt added an RBI double in the ninth.

“He’s an incredible player and he’s the face of baseball going forward — at least part of the face,” Hinch said. “He gets on base, he has power, he has speed — he’s a generational player for a reason.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

The Tigers, who only had 23 players on the active roster after the trading deadline, activated SS Javier Báez 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.

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).

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