Tigers out slug Royals, but lose series 2-1.

Which team left Kansas City after taking two of three between the Tigers and Royals?  Total runs, Tigers 21, Royals 11.  Total hits, Tigers 37, Royals 28.  Walks taken, Tigers 11, Royals 3.  Strikeouts, Tigers 19, Royals 22.  Wins, Tigers 1, Royals 2.  It was a hot weekend in Kansas City with temperatures in the upper 80's at night and nearly 100 for Sunday's afternoon game, and the Tigers hitters were scorching early and often in game one but the Royals got the last laugh, winning the last two games to take the three game set.  The Tigers didn't play poorly, but the Royals came away with two big home runs that created separation in games two and three and it seemed like the tigers used up all their offense in game one.  Let's take a closer look at each game:

Game 1 - Tigers 16, Royals 2:
For the second time in two games the bench was emptied in the late innings and the starters got to rest early, though this time the Tigers were on the winning end of a blowout as they
pounded the Royals for 26 hits and 16 runs while Anibal Sanchez was dominate, holding the Royals to one run while scattering seven hits over seven innings.  Sanchez picked up his 13th win of the season while lowering his league leading era to 2.61, but it was the offense who stole the show, namely Omar Infante and Andy Dirks, who had 5 hits a piece.  Infante drove in six runs and just missed a grand slam as the ball bounced off the top of the wall and back in play.  The Tigers had six doubles but the other twenty hits were all singles.  The Tigers as a club were 13-26 with runners in scoring position.  James Shields took the loss for the Royals in his shortest outing of the season.

Game 2 - Royals 4, Tigers 3:
A night after pounding out 26 hits, the Tigers looked to be on their way to another big offensive night as the Royals starter Danny Duffy was wild with his command in the first
inning and the Tigers got on the board early with a Prince Fielder RBI single.  But Duffy settled down into and finished his effectively wild start by only allowing two earned runs over four and a third innings.  The Royals bullpen took care of the rest, as their offense clawed their way back into the game before Perez's big shot off Verlander in the 6th gave the Royals a 4-2 lead. The Kansas City bullpen did the rest as Davis, Smith, Hochevar and Holland limited the tigers to just three hits over the last four and two thirds to close the game out and even the series 1-1.

Game 3 - Royals 5, Tigers 2:
After knocking Bruce Chen around for six earned runs just three weeks ago at Comerica Park, the Kansas City lefty was able to limit the Tigers to two earned on five hits over seven innings on just 81 pitches.  I like to look at pitch counts to determine how efficient a pitcher's outing  is.  15-17 pitches an inning is my barometer for an efficient inning,  under 15 is great, 15-17 is efficient and 18 and over is not.  Chen averaged 11.5 pitches and inning, that's extremely efficient.  Compare that with Doug Fister, the tigers starter, who actually tossed a pretty good game but labored through six and a third innings tossing 111 pitches, over 17.5 per inning.  Detroit was leading the game and Fister was in line for the win before he gave up what seemed to be a harmless infield single to Gordon, then Bonifacio followed that up with a sharp single of his own and Hosmer cleared the bases giving the Royals a lead they would not relinquish.  Herrera came in and was really impressive in his inning of work, and Holland closed the door for save number 40 as the Tigers managed only six total hits.

Series notes:

• The Tigers bullpen pitched pretty well, only allowing one run over four and two thirds innings over the three games.
• The royals only stole two bases and were actually thrown out twice and picked off once, though it felt like their bases running led to a handful of runs
• Prince Fielder threw runners out at the plate in consecutive games
• Bonifacio and Butler seemed to get hits every time they came up.  They were on base a combined ten times in the three games.
• Jose Iglesias hit his third home run of the year in the series finale, but he looks very hobbled with those shin splints.
• Verlander located well and his velocity was better, Perez just happened to run into a fast ball and that's baseball.
• Castellanos got the start in game 2 against the lefty Duffy.  He has a smooth swing like a lefty, and great bat speed through the zone.
• The tigers hit more routine fly balls the last two games then I have seen all season. 
• Alburqurque bounced back from his Boston debacle with a nice inning of work, striking out two of the three batter he faced, though he did throw one 5 feet over Avila's head to the backstop.
• Royals bullpen is tough, the Tigers saw at least four different guys throw 98mph or better out of the pen this series.
• Cleveland now sits just 5.5 games behind the Tigers, with 19 games remaining.

On to Chicago to face the struggling White Sox in a three game set.