Kendrys Morales drove in four runs and stroked four hits while Lorenzo Cain hit a three-run homer as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Detroit Tigers 15-7 in a game that lasted a little under four hours on Thursday.
The 32-year-old designated hitter Morales, who managed to hit a two-run double to break the game open, increased his RBI total to 98, ranking second in the American League. This recent victory over the Tigers made the Royals undefeated in eight straight series.
Utility player Ben Zobrist drove in two runs for the Kansas City Royals, whose 15 runs and 20 hits were their most ever since stacking up 21 hits in a 16-8 victory at Colorado back in 2011. Chris Young earned the win with two scoreless innings in relief of pitcher Edinson Volquez, who yielded six runs, eight hits and a walk in three innings early in the game.
The night did not start well for the Royals as the Tigers scored three runs off starter Volquez in the first inning. Volquez outpitched Matt Boyd, who was hammered for six runs prior to getting the hook four batters into the second inning. The last batter he faced was Lorenzo Cain, whose home run barely cleared the wall in left field on its descent for his second homer. Center fielder Anthony Gose also led off with a solo home run, followed by singles from Miguel Cabrera and Ian Kinsler.
However, the KC Royals immediately struck back in the latter half. Kansas City put the game out of reach with six runs in the bottom half of the inning, underscored by a two-run double by Morales with the bases loaded, as well as a two-run homer by Paulo Orlando.
The Royals' official Twitter account is posting live updates for the game. At one point, the Royals excitedly shared that, "Kendrys makes it a 13-7 game with a two-run double off the left field wall! He has 4 RBI tonight and 98 for the season. #Royals"
All told, the combined statistics for the two teams was set at 34 hits while leaving 18 on base in a game that lasted 3 hours and 58 minutes. A total of 76 pitches, 38 each side, along with seven hits, five runs and two visits from pitching coaches during a 46-minute long marathon were made in the first inning alone.
As mentioned, the recent win marked the first time that the Kansas City Royals notched 20 hits in a game in four years. It was also the second game in a row that Kansas City scored 10 or more runs.
Morales was apparently the star of the game. The team shared a photo (see above) on Twitter showing Morales being showered with a bucket of water by fellow Royals player Salvador Perez. The image was captioned with, "Kendrys Morales with a night to remember."
