Noah Cameron tossed five scoreless innings, while Kyle Isbel, Vinnie Pasquantino and Carter Jensen each hit a solo home run, as the host Kansas City Royals won their season-high sixth straight game, 5-2 over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.
Though Cameron (8-8) wasn’t as dominant as Sunday, during his complete-game one-hitter against the Los Angeles Angels, he kept the Tigers at bay. The left-hander only yielded singles to Hao-Yu Lee and Kevin McGonigle and overcame three walks to keep Detroit off the scoreboard.
Meanwhile, Isbel and Pasquantino each had two hits and combined for three RBIs, while Bobby Witt Jr. also recorded a pair of hits for the Royals, who are amid a 15-4 home stretch.
McGonigle had two hits with an RBI for the Tigers, who have lost three straight and six of seven. Detroit’s Troy Melton (7-2) allowed three runs — two earned — plus six hits and three walks with three strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.
Neither team could get anything going against Cameron and Melton through the first innings. But after the Tigers stranded two runners in the fourth, Kansas City opened the scoring in the bottom of that frame. Pasquantino doubled and eventually scored from second when shortstop McGonigle couldn’t handle Michael Massey’s hard grounder up the middle.
The Royals made it 2-0 when Isbel opened the fifth by barely clearing the right-field fence off Melton. Pasquantino added to Kansas City’s lead by going deep to right as the first batter of the sixth against Melton.
Detroit finally got on the board in the seventh. Max Clark walked, went to second on Gleyber Torres’ ground out to third base and scored via Zach McKinstry’s pinch-hit double off John Schreiber. With Kansas City’s Steven Cruz on the mound, McGonigle lined an RBI single to right field, making it 3-2.
However, Jensen cleared the center field wall against Tyler Holton to begin the seventh. In the eighth, Massey doubled and scored on Isbel’s own two-base hit.
Detroit drew seven walks, but stranded 11 runners, including two in the ninth versus Nate Pearson (three saves).
