KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Victor Martinez hit three home runs, the Tigers pounded out six as a team and Detroit rallied from an early hole to beat the Kansas City Royals in the opener of a four-game series.

There should have been ample reason to celebrate.

Instead, there was just a little bit of melancholy in the clubhouse after a 10-4 victory Thursday night, the fallout of an injury to J.D. Martinez that could keep the outfielder out for up to six weeks.

Martinez was tracking a fly ball in the second inning when he hit the wall. He left the game and was taken for an X-ray, which revealed a non-displaced fracture in his right elbow. He’ll have a CT scan on Friday.

“We feel bad for J.D. It looked innocent,” said the Tigers’ Ian Kinsler.

In the meantime, Steven Moya will take his place in the lineup.

“We’d much rather have J.D. healthy and in the lineup, but he’s not,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said, “so we need Steven to pick up the slack, and everybody else to pick up the slack.”

They certainly did that Thursday night.

Victor Martinez hit a pair of solo shots and Nick Castellanos went deep before James McCann homered off Royals reliever Luke Hochevar (1-1) leading off the seventh to knot the game 4-all. Cabrera followed moments later with a two-run shot that gave the Tigers their first lead of the game.

Detroit added three more runs in the eighth before Martinez hit his third homer in the ninth. The veteran designated hitter’s other three-homer game came on July 16, 2004, at Seattle.

“I hung the bullpen out to dry,” said Royals starter Danny Duffy, who gave up the first two of Martinez’s homers. “I didn’t have my best stuff. I didn’t feel my best. That’s one thing people who stick around here do, is battle when they don’t feel as good as they normally do.”

Justin Verlander (7-5) allowed four runs on eight hits over seven innings, continuing his mastery of the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Verlander improved to 13-5 in 22 starts in the ballpark.

Not only did the Royals’ five-game win streak end, so did their nine game home winning streak. It was their longest since reeling off 11 consecutive victories from March 31 to May 5, 2003.

“They have a good lineup, but then again you don’t want to go into it tying your own hands,” Hochevar said. “You’ve still got to go out and pitch your game, pitch your strengths and attack them and trust your stuff is good enough to get them out.”

The Royals were in control until their normally staunch bullpen let them down. Eric Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain drove in runs in the first inning to give them the lead, and Brett Eibner — fresh of the disabled list — matched Martinez’s first homer by driving in a run in the bottom of the second.

Martinez and Castellanos went deep in the fourth, tying the game, before Eibner connected leading off the fifth for the first home run of his career. But then the Royals’ relievers began throwing batting practice.

McCann’s tying shot cleared the wall in spacious Kauffman Stadium with plenty of room to spare, and the home run by Cabrera — his 12th career homer at The K — just cleared the wall in right field.

Martinez capped the big night for the Tigers offense with his no-doubt homer in the ninth.

“Definitely, I felt pretty good,” said Martinez, who was back in the lineup after getting some rest for a bothersome knee. “But the most important thing was to put together a good game like that.”

ROSTER MOVES

Eibner, who had been out with a sprained left ankle, arrived about an hour before first pitch and was put right into the lineup. The Royals optioned OF Reymond Fuentes to Triple-A Omaha to make room for him.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: OF Cameron Maybin got the night off with tightness in his quad.

Royals: LF Alex Gordon (broken wrist) took batting practice for the second straight day, hitting a series of homers into the fountains. Royals manager Ned Yost said he could begin a rehab assignment this week.

UP NEXT

Tigers RHP Michael Fulmer has won five straight games, allowing one earned run over 34 1/3 innings, and has thrown at least six shutout innings in each of his last four starts. He’ll face Royals RHP Yordano Ventura, who struck out a season-high 10 in a win over the White Sox last Sunday.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals won six straight games to take the AL Central lead, then dropped eight straight to lose it.

Now, they’re riding another five-game winning streak.

“Yeah, to say we’re streaky — it’s kind of crazy how it’s going,” said Ian Kennedy, who pitched Kansas City to a 9-4 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night to polish off a three-game sweep.

The Royals have won nine straight at home, their best stretch since 2003.

Salvador Perez hit a three-run shot during a go-ahead fifth inning against Corey Kluber (6-7), while Eric Hosmer added two RBI and Whit Merrifield remained hot to pace the Kansas City attack.

“We were on the attack early,” Hosmer said. “We took advantage of getting a lot of guys on base.”

Kennedy (5-5) allowed just five hits, including two-run homers by Rajai Davis and Michael Martinez, as he pitched into the seventh inning. He won for the first time since beating Cleveland on May 7.

Even with the two long balls, the Indians only managed seven runs the entire series.

Kluber gave up more than that in five innings Wednesday night. The 2014 Cy Young winner matched a career high by allowing eight runs and nine hits in a performance nearly as shoddy as his defense, which made two errors and probably could have been charged with a couple more.

“Yeah, to get swept is disappointing,” Kluber said. “We didn’t play very well these three games.”

Merrifield, who homered in each of the first two games, got the Royals going again with a base hit in the first inning. Consecutive doubles by Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain gave Kansas City a 2-0 lead.

Kluber also ran into trouble in the second inning, though it was caused by consecutive errors by second baseman Jason Kipnis and third baseman Martinez. Kluber bounced back to strand runners on second and third, then went through a stretch of six batters in which he struck out five.

“He’s tough,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He’s just tough.”

The Indians tied it in the fifth when Kennedy failed to cover first base on Martinez’s grounder up the line. Moments later, Davis sent a 1-2 pitch soaring over the wall in left field to tie the game.

That only lasted until the bottom half of the inning.

Drew Butera blooped a double to right that fell between Cleveland fielders, then reached third on a groundout before scampering home for the go-ahead run on Kluber’s wild pitch. Hosmer and Cain added singles, and Perez swatted his 11th homer of the season to center field.

Perez hit a go-ahead two-run shot in the eighth inning of the Royals’ 3-2 win Tuesday night.

Kansas City (35-30) added three more runs in the sixth to put the game away, and move into a tie with the Indians for first place in the division.

“Very disappointing. We swept them at home and they return the favor,” Kipnis said. “I thought this entire series was more on the position players. I think the pitching staff did an outstanding job. You can’t ask for much more from the pitching staff.”

TROUBLED TRIBE

The Indians had not been swept at Kauffman Stadium since July 31-Aug. 2, 2012. They have lost six of their last nine after winning their previous six, trending in the opposite direction of the Royals. Part of the problem has been sloppy fielding — they have five errors in their last five games.

INFANTE OUT

The Royals designated INF Omar Infante for assignment, likely ending his tenure in KC. Infante has struggled with injuries since signing a $30.25 million, four-year deal. Unless he is traded or claimed on waivers, both unlikely, the Royals would owe him the remainder of $7.75 million due this season, $8 million on his contract next season and a $2 million buyout for the 2018 season.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals OF Alex Gordon (broken right hand) took batting practice for the first time since landing on the DL on May 23, even hitting a homer into the fountains. Gordon does not know when he will begin a rehab assignment but said “it should be coming soon.” … Royals RHP Kris Medlen (right rotator inflammation) made first rehab start Wednesday for Northwest Arkansas. He threw two scoreless innings.

UP NEXT

Royals LHP Danny Duffy opens a four-game series against Detroit on Thursday night, while Cleveland takes the day off before beginning a three-game set against the White Sox on Friday night.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Royals manager Ned Yost never lacks for confidence, even with his team struggling to score runs and trailing with two outs in the eighth inning against the best team in the division.

“I had a really good feeling about Sal coming up there and doing something special,” Yost said.

That would be Salvador Perez, of course. The All-Star catcher made Yost seem prophetic when he followed a single by Eric Hosmer with a two-run homer to center, propelling Kansas City to a 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night.

Joakim Soria (3-2) pitched a scoreless eighth inning for Kansas City, then proceeded to handle the ninth with setup men Luke Hochevar Kelvin Herrera and closer Wade Davis getting the night off — the three of them were unavailable after heavy usage the previous three days.

Soria got Jason Kipnis to pop out with runners on first and second to end it.

“If you can keep these guys in the game, they like the late-inning heroics,” said Dillon Gee, who tossed three scoreless innings in relief of Chris Young to make the comeback possible.

Whit Merrifield also went deep for the Royals, who have won four straight after an eight-game skid, while Perez’s shot off Bryan Shaw (0-3) was the first non-solo homer by the Royals in their last 12.

The comeback also scuttled a solid performance by Josh Tomlin, who allowed seven hits while striking out five without a walk. He exited with a 2-1 lead and in line to beat Kansas City for the third time.

“I don’t care about my win. I care about this team winning games,” he said. “It stinks to lose in that situation. We have the utmost faith in Shaw every time he goes out there. He’s one of the best relievers, in my opinion. He’ll make adjustments. We’ve seen what he’s done in the past.”

The Indians took their first lead of the series when Carlos Santana homered in the third, his 13th of the year. It was also the AL-leading 18th that Chris Young had allowed.

Merrifield matched it in the bottom half, the 27-year-old rookie sending a 2-2 pitch over the left-field wall. His second career homer came 24 hours after his first.

Young continued to struggle with his command in the fifth, walking two more batters to exceed his 85-pitch limit. Dillon Gee entered in relief and Kipnis promptly swatted the second pitch he saw for an RBI single that gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead.

The Royals had a chance to tie it in the seventh when pinch hitter Paulo Orlando slapped a single and Cheslor Cuthbert sacrificed him to second, but Jarrod Dyson and Merrifield were unable to get him home.

Perez made it a forgotten point with his big hit in the eighth.

“It’s a long season but you want to play night-in and night-out good baseball,” Young said. “Be nice to get on a streak now and finish up this series well.”

STAKING A CLAIM

The Royals claimed LHP Tyler Olson off waivers from the Yankees and assigned him to Triple-A Omaha, and created roster space by transferring 3B Mike Moustakas (ACL) to the 60-day DL. Olson has spent most of the season in the minors, though he did throw 2 2/3 innings of relief for New York in April.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: 3B Moustakas stopped in the clubhouse after surgery to repair a torn right ACL. He has already started rehabbed, most of which will take place in Florida. “It’s not fun to sit there and watch and not be out there,” he said, “but my job is to get better and get ready for next season.”

Indians: 3B Juan Uribe was feeling better after sustaining a testicular contusion Sunday against the Angels. He remained out of the lineup, though manager Terry Francona said Uribe did all pregame work.

UP NEXT

Indians RHP Corey Kluber tries to build on a complete-game victory over the Angels in the series finale Wednesday night. RHP Ian Kennedy is on the mound for Kansas City.

— Associated Press —