Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As temperatures neared 100 and Justin Verlander’s pitch count mounted, Jim Leyland thought seriously about replacing his hard-working All-Star.

But with whom?

“No matter where I looked — my bullpen, their bullpen, in the stands — I couldn’t find anybody any better,” Leyland quipped. “So he’s going to be out there.”

With the heat index reaching 113 on the stadium concourse, Verlander threw 119 pitches in 7 2/3 innings and beat Kansas City 2-1 Sunday afternoon, vaulting Detroit into first place in the AL Central and making him the first Tigers pitcher in 24 years with 12 wins prior to the All-Star break.

“I knew it would be a grind out there, as hot as it was,” said Verlander. “I took my time between pitches and just tried to slow things down a little bit. I felt like that helped.”

The 28-year-old right-hander (12-4) threw 82 strikes in his 119 pitches and improved to 12-2 in 18 starts against the Royals. The first Tiger since Jack Morris in 1987 with 12 wins before the break, he struck out the side in the second and sixth and fanned nine altogether, raising his league-leading strikeout total to 147. He allowed six hits and did not walk a batter while getting charged with one unearned run. He has not allowed more than two runs in nine straight starts.

Verlander could remember only one game this hot.

“Maybe Atlanta a year or two ago. It was smoking hot there, too. I just tried to take all the time I could to get my breath and not let myself get in fast-forward mode and all of a sudden find yourself with a couple of guys on and you’re gassed.”

The Royals, who lost three of the four games against their AL Central rivals, went into the break with a league-worst 37-54 record. Eric Hosmer doubled leading off the ninth against Jose Valverde, but was cut down on a close play trying to steal third. That was the second out, then Mike Moustakas flied out.

Both Verlander and Leyland said they thought he was safe until seeing the replay. Then they thought Brandon Inge blocked him off.

Hosmer still thinks he was safe.

“I know I got my hand in there 100 percent,” he said. “You know, it’s a tough call for him, but it’s a shame it’s the last inning and the game ended like that. It was a tough way to lose.”

The Tigers, winners of four of their last five, moved a half-game ahead of Cleveland, which lost to Toronto 7-1.

“That doesn’t really mean anything,” Leyland said. “That means we’ve played a half a game better than somebody else the first half. This is going to be up for grabs. The Twins and White Sox are right there. Cleveland’s right there. It’s better than being down, behind. But I’m proud of the guys. Unbelievable effort. Guys are tired.”

Jeff Francis (3-10) took the loss even though he had one of the his best outings of the season, going six-plus innings and surrendering two runs on just four hits, with one walk and six strikeouts, matching his season high.

“There’s been a lot of games we could have won and haven’t,” said Francis. “But you know, you put it behind you. We still have a half to go to turn things around, make some adjustments and play better baseball.”

Verlander lost the shutout in the eighth when Alcides Escobar singled, went to third on Chris Getz’s single and scored with two outs when Inge threw high to first on Alex Gordon’s slow roller to third. Joaquin Benoit relieved and struck out Billy Butler with two on and two out.

“That was the biggest out of the game,” said Leyland. “And probably nobody will notice it.”

Valverde earned his 24th straight save. He saved all three of the victories against KC.

It was 95 degrees with a heat index of 105 when the game started and 97, 112 by the sixth inning.

Francis retired the first nine Tigers but Casper Wells doubled leading off the fourth and made it 1-0 on an RBI single by Brennan Boesch. In the sixth, Wells walked, went to second with his first career steal and came home on Magglio Ordonez’s RBI single.

Verlander, as usual against KC, was dominant most of the hot, sticky afternoon.

After Butler singled leading off the second, struggling rookie Moustakas broke an 0 for 21 streak with a two-out single into right. But Verlander ended the threat by striking out Brayan Pena. Jeff Francoeur singled to start the Royals fifth, went to second on a wild pitch and to third on Moustakas’ roller to first. But Verlander kept him there by striking out Pena and retiring Escobar on an easy infield grounder.

“It was a really well-pitched game. We just matched up against a really good pitcher,” said Royals manager Ned Yost. “We did what we wanted to do, we wanted to keep it close and have a chance to win it late, we just couldn’t push the run across.”

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chris Getz reached base three times. Melky Cabrera pushed his hitting streak to eight games. Alex Gordon belted a long three-run homer, and Billy Butler added three hits and a pair of RBIs.

Pretty nice production from the top of the order.

The Kansas City Royals finally generated some offense Saturday night, and their bullpen carried the load after Luke Hochevar was chased in the fourth inning of a 13-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

“The top four guys in our lineup today produced a lot of offense,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “We had eight or nine hits, a bunch of RBIs — the majority of the RBIs. Billy swung the bat really, really well tonight, as did Melky, and Gordo with the big three-run homer was key.”

Alcides Escobar also drove in three runs and scored three times for the Royals, who built a seven-run lead against Charlie Furbush (1-3) before Hochevar gave much of it away.

The right-hander was battered for six runs before he was yanked with two out in the fourth. Greg Holland (3-1) wiggled out of trouble to earn the victory, and Everett Teaford tossed three shutout innings in his return from the minors to finish off a game that lasted 3 hours, 24 minutes.

“I’m really glad I was able to finish it out just so tomorrow we’re that much more fresh out there,” Teaford said, “and then heading into the All-Star break we’ll be real good to go.”

Brennan Boesch had three hits and drove in a pair of runs for Detroit, which could have moved ahead of Cleveland and into first place in the AL Central with a victory.

The Tigers were done in by a pair of errors that led to eight unearned runs.

“When you have a bad game like we did tonight, that’s what happens. You don’t get out of it,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “You don’t expect the pitcher to get out of it all the time.”

Especially when your pitcher is struggling anyway.

The 25-year-old Furbush, making his second career start, gave up nine runs in 2 2/3 innings — though just four of them were earned. He was optioned to Triple-A Toledo after the game.

“Rough one,” Furbush said. “This was a rough one.”

Hochevar said pretty much the same thing.

He mowed through the Tigers on seven pitches in the first inning, but wound up allowing nine hits in his shortest start of the season. The dismal performance came one start after he gave up five runs in just 4 1/3 innings at Colorado.

“We swung the bats extremely well tonight, played great defense and then the bullpen came in and pitched well,” Hochevar said, “but for my part I need to find a way to get back to helping the team.”

Eric Hosmer’s run-scoring fielder’s choice gave Kansas City a first-inning lead, and Escobar added another run in the second on another fielder’s choice. The Royals then put runners on second and third before Furbush hit Gordon to load the bases for Butler, who came through with a two-run single through the left side after squandering a couple of key chances the previous night.

The Tigers trimmed Kansas City’s lead to 4-2 in the third on two-out singles by Boesch and Miguel Cabrera, but Getz limited the damage by leaping up to snare Victor Martinez’s liner to second.

The Royals piled on with two outs in the third after Ramon Santiago’s error on an easy grounder to shortstop allowed the inning to continue. Getz and Cabrera each hit an RBI single, and Gordon hit the first pitch he saw over the wall in center.

“That’s what the top of the lineup is there for,” Butler said. “You don’t get it every night.”

Detroit started to rally by loading the bases with none out in the fourth, and Don Kelly scored when Escobar made an error with two outs. Santiago and Boesch each drove in a run, and Cabrera and Martinez reached on walks to force in another one.

But the Royals’ bullpen took over from there, and their offense tacked on four more runs.

“Bullpen has been great all year long and that’s been the strength of our club,” Yost said. “We can get past the fifth inning with the lead, we feel real good about what we have down there.”

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Magglio Ordonez’s two-run home run just six pitches into the game staked Rick Porcello to an early lead and got the Detroit Tigers rolling toward a 6-4 victory Friday night over Kyle Davies and the reeling Kansas City Royals.

Davies (1-8) lost his seventh straight decision and the Royals sank to 5-14 in their past 19 games.

Only one of the three runs the Royals scored off Porcello (8-6) was earned. The lanky right-hander went 5 1/3 innings and allowed six hits. He struck out five and walked just one — the 14th time in 17 outings he has allowed two or fewer walks.

Davies, making his second start since returning from the disabled list with inflammation of the right rotator cuff, gave up a leadoff double to Andy Dirks, who had three hits.

One out later, Ordonez hit the struggling right-hander’s first offering over the fence for a 2-0 lead. Davies went six innings and allowed five runs and nine hits, with three walks and four strikeouts.

The Royals closed to 5-4 in the seventh when Melky Cabrera doubled home a run off reliever David Purcey. But with two outs, shortstop Jhonny Peralta made a standout play running to his right to stop Billy Butler’s hard-hit grounder and nip the heavy-footed DH at first.

All-Star Jose Valverde labored through the ninth for his 23rd save in 23 opportunities. He loaded the bases with two outs with a single and two walks and went to 2-0 on Billy Butler before retiring him on a fly ball.

The Tigers loaded the bases with none out in the second on a walk and two soft singles but got only one run, on Dirks’ infield grounder with one out.

Ryan Raburn, who had singled and was on first, went piling into shortstop Alcides Escobar to break up the attempted double play as Peralta crossed the plate.

The Royals bounced back with two unearned runs in the bottom of the first after Chris Getz reached leading off on third baseman Brandon Inge’s fielding error.

After Cabrera’s single, Alex Gordon rifled an RBI single into center with one out, Jeff Francoeur brought in a run with a sacrifice fly.

Victor Martinez’s infield grounder brought in Ordonez from third base with another Detroit run in the third and then Peralta made it 5-2 with an RBI double.

Porcello, after striking out the side in the third, gave up three straight singles starting the fourth, including Butler’s RBI single. Porcello escaped by getting Eric Hosmer on a fielder’s choice grounder and Francoeur and Mike Moustakas on fly balls.

The Tigers added a run off Tim Collins in the ninth on Brennan Boesch’s fielder’s choice grounder.

Getz, a three-year veteran, was ejected for the first time in his career for arguing with first base umpire Tom Hallion after he was called out on a close play ending the fourth.