Skubal too much for Royals hitters in 4-1 loss

The Royals drop the series in Detroit.

The Royals managed just five hits and one run in a 4-1 Sunday afternoon loss to the Tigers to lose the series. The Royals have had four series where they split the first two games, and in all four now they have dropped the finale to lose the series.

Tarik Skubal has been one of the best pitchers in baseball since last August, but the Royals were able to get to him the first inning. Maikel Garcia doubled, and Bobby Witt Jr. singled him home to make it 1-0 Royals. But Skubal would retire the next 14 hitters in a row, lasting seven innings with just four hits allowed.

Michael Wacha would immediately cough up the lead in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Mark Canha lined one down the right field line for a double. Rookie Wenceel Perez smacked a hanging change up over the centerfield wall for a two-run home run. The Tigers would add another run in the second frame. Jake Rogers singled and struggling rookie Parker Meadows doubled to put runners at second and third. Riley Greene’s sacrifice fly made it 3-1 Tigers.

Wacha would settle down and tossed goose eggs in the third and fourth, pitching around trouble in the fifth. Rogers homered off him in the sixth to knock him out of the game after 5 ²⁄₃ innings and a 4-1 deficit.

Will Klein made his MLB debut with a 1-2-3 eighth inning that included two strikeouts. The rookie right-hander was hitting 98 mph on the radar gun, the hardest any Royals pitcher other than Cole Ragans has thrown this year.

The Royals fall to 17-12 and will travel to Toronto tomorrow to begin a three-game series.