Duffy, 4 homers lead Royals over Tigers

Detroit Tigers pitcher Anibal Sanchez throws against the Kansas City Royals during the first inning of a baseball game in Detroit, Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016.

“It makes it more special that I hit it in my first at-bat against that guy, ” he said.

Asked about his concern about Cabrera’s injury, Ausmus said: “I’m certainly not concerned long-term about Miggy”.

Saltalamacchia said he didn’t know he’d be playing first base today until he got to the park.

Alcides Escobar scored the final Royals run on a Lorenzo Cain single. Drew Butera added an RBI single later in the inning.

After getting the deficit to 6-4, Encarnacion followed a 12-pitch walk by Josh Donaldson by lining a 1-0 slider from Adam Warren (1-1) into the left field seats for his 34th home run and 99th RBI.

J.D. Martinez: He only had one hit, but found himself in scoring position twice, which is more than one could say for any other Tigers player.

Sanchez had gone 6 2/3 innings without a hit when Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer doubled to left-center. Kris Medlen, out since May with a rotator cuff problem, started Tuesday night for Surprise in the Arizona League, while Jason Vargas (Tommy John surgery) is scheduled to start for Double-A Northwest Arizona on Wednesday. Cabrera left the game after the flyout on the play. He didn’t look entirely comfortable, shaking his arm after swings, but hit a 112 mph groundball in the third inning, per Statcast.

Will the Detroit Tigers avoid being swept at home by the Kansas City Royals when they meet up tonight at 7:10PM ET?

When Mondesi came up in the third inning, Verlander had retired all eight batters he had faced and appeared to be in dominant form once again. Aybar is expected to give Detroit an option for the infield as shortstop Jose Iglesias is on the 15 day disabled list with a hamstring strain and third baseman Nick Castellanos is on the DL with a broken bone in his hand.

“I told him I was going to hit him, but I never did”, Verlander said. It’s the finale of their three-game series, with first pitch at 6:10 p.m.

Duffy came through with another stellar outing for the surging Royals, who are now within one game of.500 for the first time since July 24. Detroit are 6-2 in Sanchez’s last 8 starts versus Kansas City and the over is 6-2 in Ventura’s last 8 starts versus Detroit.