Verlander, Tigers overpowered in loss to Royals

DETROIT — The Royals won a battle of solo home runs, including Raul Mondesi’s first Major League homer off Justin Verlander, in a 6-1 win over the Tigers on Tuesday night.

Kansas City secured its fourth straight series win with the finale of this three-game set on tap for Wednesday night at Comerica Park.

What had been billed as a pitching duel between Verlander and Danny Duffy was a low-hit affair as expected, but four of those hits cleared the outfield fences. Three of the Royals’ homers were the first three hits off Verlander (12-7), who paid for hanging sliders to Mondesi in the third and Alex Gordon in the fifth before Eric Hosmer connected on an 0-2 fastball in the seventh. Two unearned runs in the eighth put Kansas City in command before Kendrys Morales greeted Mark Lowe with a home run leading off the ninth.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia added to the homer parade with a drive in the fifth, but Detroit managed just two other hits, both singles, off Duffy (10-1) in 7 2/3 innings. Duffy won for the fourth consecutive start, improving to 9-0 in 13 outings since his only loss June 6.

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