Kansas City Royals beaten by Detroit Tigers 2-4 in series opener – MLB Update
Kansas City Royals lost to the Detroit Tigers 2-4 at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan on Friday, July 6 in the opening game of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Quintin Berry looked very comfortable on the mound as he put the Tigers on the board with a triple to deep-centre in the third inning and Delmon Young hit his eighth home-run of the season to break the tie.
For the Royals, Brayan Pena doubled to deep left-centre in the fifth and Jason Bourgeois earned an RBI single to centre in the fifth inning. Starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez gave up four runs in just over five innings to take his fifth loss of the season.
"He was definitely better," Royals’ manager Ned Yost said. "His strike ratio was better and his command was better. He just made two mistakes -- one was a two-run triple and one was a two-run homer."
"The results are still not good enough," he said. "Today was better, yes, but I have to do more in the second half of the season. I just have to do better."
Credit must be given to the Tigers for using their home conditions to great effect in series opener. In some ways, it was a huge win for the Tigers, who are back to .500 win percentage mark for the first time since May 15.
Right now the Tigers are just behind the American League Central Division leaders Chicago White Sox. With second half of the season games still remaining, they will have an excellent chance to make it to the post-season for the second straight year.
Kansas City Royals’ manager Ned Yost, on the other hand, will be disappointed with his team’s effort over the last couple of weeks. Since losing to the Minnesota Twins in a four game series, the Royals have struggled to find any rhythm in their game play
and it will be interesting to see if they can come up with better tactics in second game to keep the series alive.
At this crucial part of the regular season, the Royals will be hoping for an improved performance not only in this series but for the remainder of the regular season.
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