Miguel Cabrera nabs 3 hits as Detroit Tigers take down Kansas City Royals late in 4-2 win

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Detroit Tigers right-hander Casey Mize worked in and out of trouble for nearly his entire night.

"It's annoying to be in those situations," Mize said.

"He hung in there mentally," manager A.J. Hinch said, "which is important."

The 24-year-old grinded his way through five innings, departing from his second start of the season with the game tied. The Tigers' offense sparked for two runs with two outs in the seventh inning, enough for a 4-2 win over the Kansas City Royals in Thursday's series opener at Kauffman Stadium.

The Tigers (3-4) benefitted from RBI singles off the bats of Victor Reyes and Austin Meadows in the seventh, though Eric Haase's pinch-hit single against left-handed reliever Jake Brentz kept the inning alive for the top of the order to deliver.

"Haase is dangerous," Hinch said. "I know it was a single, but coming off the bench against a guy throwing that hard, it's pretty impressive. Haasey is ready. Before we even told him that he might pinch-hit, he's pretty lathered up and ready to go, so preparation matters."

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Designated hitter Miguel Cabrera finished 3-for-4, including two hits off starter Zack Greinke. The 20-year MLB veteran upped his career total to 2,994 hits, putting him six hits away from becoming the 33rd player in baseball history to reach 3,000 hits.

"I try to go out there and play my best baseball," Cabrera said. "I know there's a lot of pressure. I know there's a lot of eyes on me. But at the same time, I'm in a good position right now. I'm happy to be here. Hopefully we can win more games. I think that's more important."

After Mize completed five innings, the Tigers received scoreless innings from relievers Joe Jimenez, Alex Lange, Michael Fulmer and Gregory Soto. Lange and Fulmer cruised past the top six batters in Kansas City's lineup in the seventh and eighth innings.

Soto picked up his second save this season.

Eyes on the Mize

Mize allowed two runs on six hits and two walks with two strikeouts in five innings, throwing 53 of 88 pitches for strikes. He produced just four swings and misses: one each with his four-seam fastball, slider, splitter and curveball.

The Royals weren't hammering the ball — producing an average 84.4 mph exit velocity — but they put the ball in play against Mize. Two defensive miscues hurt the 2018 No. 1 overall pick in the fourth inning.

"This is a team that puts pressure on you," Hinch said. "They do a lot of things to keep games close. So Casey not caving and getting some big outs to end innings, I thought was really critical for him."

Hunter Dozier tripled to center with one out in the inning; the ball had a 101.8 mph exit velocity and bounced off Akil Baddoo's glove on the fly. It was the second hardest hit for K.C., behind Bobby Witt Jr.'s triple in the first inning.

The Royals ended up with two runners in scoring position for Michael A. Taylor, who grounded Mize's 0-2 curveball down the line to third baseman Jeimer Candelario. Candelario should have made the routine play, but he bobbled the ball. His mistake — ruled a single — gave the Royals their first run.

Two batters later, Whit Merrifield ripped an RBI single on Mize's first-pitch slider to even the score at 2-all.

"Just not sharp in general," Mize said. "A lot of stuff in the heart of the plate and making some mistakes. A lot of stuff over the middle of the plate. I gotta find the corners and do my best to stay there."

Before the damage, Mize escaped trouble in the first and second innings, also keeping the Royals at bay despite a two-out single in the third. He managed a perfect fifth inning on 13 pitches but didn't return for the sixth.

Mize stranded two runners in scoring position in the second frame, making an excellent defensive play (force out at second base) for the first out, striking out Taylor with a slider for the second out and getting Nicky Lopez to ground to first base for the third out.

"Strikeout helps a ton," Mize said. "Obviously huge to get out of that, just one at a time and work your way out of it."

To go with Mize's four whiffs, he chipped in 15 called strikes, including six four-seamers, four sliders and three splitters. For his 88 pitches, he used 37 four-seamers (42%), 23 sliders (26%), 14 splitters (16%), 11 curves (13%) and three two-seamers (3%).

His fastball averaged 93.4 mph, maxing out at 95.4 mph. He painted his fastest fastball on the outside edge in a 3-2 count against Witt, striking him out looking and ending the Royals' two-run fourth inning.

Getting up early

The Tigers scored first, producing two runs in the second inning. They loaded the bases on back-to-back singles off Greinke from Candelario and Cabrera, plus a walk from Baddoo.

Greinke plunked Spencer Torkelson with an 87.8 mph changeup. His inside pitch gave Torkelson a free pass to first base, plating Candelario for a 1-0 Tigers lead.

A sacrifice fly from Harold Castro scored Cabrera. The 38-year-old tagged up at third base. The throw from left fielder Andrew Benintendi beat Cabrera to the plate, but he flashed his veteran prowess by sliding around the tag for a 2-0 advantage.

He pumped his fist in celebration, then strutted, on his way back to the dugout.

"Any time Miggy's on the bases, he's happy," Hinch said. "We are too, especially when he's safe. But he has a good time. That's a tough test. This is arguably one of the best defenses in the American League."

After that, Greinke settled in.

The right-hander, himself a 19-year MLB veteran, completed 5⅓ innings, allowing two runs on five hits and one walk. He didn't notch any strikeouts, but he kept the Tigers off-balance with his mix of changeups, curveballs and four-seam fastballs.

"You got to stay disciplined with him," Hinch said of Greinke. "We took some tough pitches, some went our way, some didn't. As the at-bats got longer, we were able to get him out of the game sooner. To be able to handle the lack of aggressiveness that Zack has is a good sign for us."

Meadows singled off Greinke to open the sixth and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Greinke retired Jonathan Schoop for the first out, and Royals manager Mike Matheny replaced him with righty reliever Collin Snider.

Snider struck out Candelario but gave up an opposite-field single to Cabrera. On Cabrera's single to right, Meadows was thrown out at home plate to end the inning.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers take down Kansas City Royals late in 4-2 victory