Tigers scratch out 1-0 victory to take series from Royals

Chris McCosky, The Detroit News on Jun 1, 2025

Published in Baseball

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Detroit Tigers managed one lonely run in the final two games against the Kansas City Royals.

But it was good enough to secure another series win.

After losing 1-0 on Saturday, the Tigers returned the favor, taking the rubber match Sunday, 1-0 at Kauffman Stadium.

Royals lefty Kris Bubic struck out nine over seven innings and lowered his ERA to a league-best 1.43. But he ran afoul of Zach McKinstry’s wheels.

McKinstry ripped a ball into the right-field corner leading off the third inning and turned a routine double into a hustle triple. His sprint speed, per Statcast, was 28.6 feet per second and he made the three-base trek in 11.48 seconds.

He ended up scoring on a very odd wild pitch. The ball bounced past catcher Salvador Perez to the backstop. McKinstry, though, held up. But when Perez didn’t immediately go after the ball, McKinstry restarted and scored without a play.

And somehow, against all odds, that run held up.

Tigers’ right-handed starter Keider Montero fended the Royals off for 4 2/3 busy innings. He was tagged for seven hits and a walk. The Royals hit six balls with exit velocities in excess of 100 mph.

But Montero never broke. He struck out John Rave looking to leave the bases loaded in the first inning. He helped turn a 3-6-1 double-play to get out of the third. Catcher Jake Rogers threw out Rave trying to steal in the fourth.

When he gave up a two-out double Bobby Witt Jr., in the fifth, manager AJ Hinch went to his bullpen.

Lefty Tyler Holton stranded Witt, getting Vinnie Pasquantino to rollover to second base.

Holton got the first two outs in the sixth before Rave beat out a broken-bat infield single.

Hinch went to righty Chase Lee, who ended the sixth by striking out Nick Loftin and then pitched a clean seventh inning, getting the game to the back end of the bullpen where both Tommy Kahnle and Will Vest were fresh and ready.

Kahnle yielded a two-out single to Perez, but got through the eighth handing the baton to Vest to face the bottom of the Royals order in the ninth.

Nothing to it. Vest closed it out with a clean inning and posted his ninth save.

The Tigers (39-21) open a four-game series against White Sox on Monday in Chicago.

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