DETROIT (AP) — Alcides Escobar was ready for Anibal Sanchez to throw a fastball on the first pitch of the game.

“I said, `If he throws me a fastball right down the middle, I’m swinging no matter what,” the Kansas City shortstop said.

Escobar hit a leadoff homer and made a sparkling catch of Miguel Cabrera’s line drive two innings later, and the Royals went on to a 6-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday. Kansas City moved back into first place in the AL Central after the Tigers had taken a half-game lead by beating the Royals in a sloppily played series opener Friday night.

Jeremy Guthrie (2-2) allowed two runs in 7 1/3 innings for the Royals. Sanchez (2-4) allowed six runs and nine hits in six innings, his ERA rising to 5.44 on the young season.

Sanchez came into the game with a 1.40 ERA in eight career starts against Kansas City, but the Royals were aggressive early and scored all their runs in the first four innings.

Guthrie allowed fewer than three runs for the first time this year.

Escobar belted Sanchez’s first offering well beyond the fence in left field for his first home run of the season. Eric Hosmer added an RBI double that inning, and Kansas City scored two more runs in the second on RBI singles by Escobar and Hosmer.

It was 5-1 in the bottom of the third when Cabrera’s liner was caught by Escobar — the shortstop went diving to his right to make the play.

Omar Infante brought another run home for the Royals with a fourth-inning single.

Detroit’s second run came in the sixth. Victor Martinez led off with a double, and Nick Castellanos sent a two-out drive to right-center that Lorenzo Cain and Jarrod Dyson both tried to catch against the wall. The ball hit the wall in between their gloves and caromed back for a triple that made it 6-2.

“That’s nobody’s ball. That’s a play that nobody can call. There’s no communication there,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “That was in no-man’s land. Not a lot of outfielders get to that ball, and we had two of them at the same time.”

Guthrie allowed eight hits and a walk with three strikeouts in his longest outing of the season.

Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez had his first day off of the season. Drew Butera replaced him behind the plate and went hitless.

Perez had played at least one out at catcher in 55 straight regular-season games, according to STATS. That was the longest streak since Bob Boone of the California Angels had a run of 65 games in 1987-88.

BACK AND FORTH

The Tigers outlasted the Royals by one game to win the AL Central last year, and there hasn’t been much separating the teams in 2015 either.

“I think it’s going to be like that all year long,” Yost said. “It’s just going to be give and take.”

The Royals and Tigers split a four-game series at Kansas City, and they’ve also split the first two of this three-game set.

“They’ve got everything they had last year, but now they’ve got more offense,” Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said. “I think adding a veteran like (designated hitter Kendrys) Morales helped, but they’ve also got a lot of guys who look more polished at the plate.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Closer Greg Holland worked a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation. It was his second appearance since returning from a pectoral injury.

Tigers: Detroit put C Alex Avila on the 15-day DL with a knee injury and said LHP David Price has a mild strain of his right hamstring.

UP NEXT

The Royals will send RHP Chris Young (2-0) to the mound against RHP Shane Greene (3-2) in the series finale Sunday night. Young held the Tigers hitless in five innings on May 1 in his only start of the season so far.

— Associated Press —

DETROIT (AP) — Reliever Yohan Pino, called up earlier in the day by Kansas City, threw wildly to first base, allowing Anthony Gose to score the winning run in the ninth inning as the Detroit Tigers beat the Royals 6-5 on Friday night.

Gose led off the ninth with a double on Pino’s first pitch, and on the next delivery, Ian Kinsler bunted down the third-base line. Pino (0-1) fielded the ball and threw wildly to first, allowing Gose to score the winning run.

Joakim Soria (2-0) earned the win with a scoreless ninth inning.

Tigers starter David Price allowed five runs and a career-high 13 hits before leaving the game in the seventh inning with a fluke injury. On the single by Alex Gordon that gave Kansas City a 5-4 lead, Price stepped on a discarded bat and appeared to injure his ankle.

The Tigers scored four times in the fourth inning despite two high-risk decisions by third-base coach Dave Clark. With the bases loaded and no outs, Andrew Romine singled to right, and Clark sent Nick Castellanos to the plate, even though he didn’t appear to have a chance to score.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez, though, couldn’t make a clean pickup of Paulo Orlando’s throw, then dropped the ball when he tagged Castellanos. After Gose’s infield single loaded the bases again, Kinsler hit a hard single to right and Clark sent Romine to the plate in another bad-looking move.

This time, Perez caught the ball too far up the first-base line, and Romine was able to slide around his tag, making it 4-0.

Perez made up for two of the runs in the fourth, hitting a long homer to left. Christian Colon added an RBI single, and the Royals tied the game when Castellanos threw away Lorenzo Cain’s two-out grounder to third.

Detroit threatened in the fifth, putting runners on the corners with one out, but Perez dug Colon’s throw out of the dirt and tagged Kinsler at the plate. Ventura struck out J.D. Martinez, dropping him to 0 for 25, to end the inning.

Gordon’s third hit of the game drove home Eric Hosmer with the go-ahead run in the seventh, and as Price was running to back up the throw at the plate, he stepped on Gordon’s bat. Detroit tied the game in the bottom of the inning on Victor Martinez’s RBI groundout.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: 3B Mike Moustakas will miss the weekend series with Detroit after being placed on the Bereavement/Family Emergency List. SS Alcides Escobar, though, returned from the Concussion DL and started Friday night. The Royals placed LHP Jason Vargas on the DL with a flexor strain and called up Pino from Triple-A Omaha.

Tigers: RHP Justin Verlander, who has not pitched this season with a triceps injury, threw on flat ground for the third straight day, extending to 90 feet. The Tigers have not set a timeline on his return. . RHP Bruce Rondon, who missed all last season after Tommy John surgery, has returned to Detroit after a setback in his return. Rondon is currently having soreness in his biceps, which the team does not believe is related to his elbow injury.

UP NEXT:

The teams meet in the second of a three-game series on Saturday afternoon, with Anibal Sanchez (2-3, 5.11) facing Kansas City’s Jeremy Guthrie (1-2, 6.52). They matched up on Sunday in Kansas City, with Sanchez and the Tigers winning 6-4. Sanchez is 6-2 with a 1.40 ERA in eight career starts against the Royals.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Eric Hosmer can’t believe Corey Kluber is still looking for his first victory.

Kluber, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, remained winless through seven starts this season when the Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland Indians 7-4 on Thursday.

“It’s a guy you would never anticipate being 0-5, definitely not,” said Hosmer, who hit a three-run homer in the first inning. “He’s still got the same stuff as he did. He’s still really effective. He’s got the two-seamer, cutter and slider that he whips out the second and third time through.”

Hosmer hit a 2-0 pitch for the homer.

“When you get behind a guy 2-0 with two guys on, you can’t really be picky there,” Kluber said. “I’m going out there trying to attack guys and he put a good swing on it.”

Kluber (0-5) matched the record for most winless starts by a pitcher after winning a Cy Young. Zack Greinke in 2010 and Frank Viola in 1989 also went seven straight without a victory.

“I think we all know that he’s our guy,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “When we get where we want to be, he’ll be a huge part of it. Whatever your record is, you have to live with that. That is part of the game.”

Kluber gave up five runs, seven hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings, and left with a 5.04 ERA. In his past four starts, Kluber has a 7.43 ERA, yielding 38 hits and 19 earned runs in 23 innings.

The Cleveland ace went 18-9 with a 2.44 ERA last year.

Franklin Morales (3-0) won with two scoreless innings of relief.

Luke Hochevar, who just came off the disabled list following shoulder surgery, pitched a scoreless sixth, striking out two. It was his first appearance since Sept. 29, 2013.

“I had an adrenaline rush especially in a spot like that (a one-run lead),” Hochevar said. “I didn’t feel too pumped up or too juiced up. I was just excited to be on the mound.”

Greg Holland worked a spotless ninth to collect his fifth save in as many chances.

Rain delayed the start of the game by 2 hours, 17 minutes.

Hosmer hit three home runs and drove in 10 runs in the seven-game homestand.

Royals starter Edinson Volquez lasted just three innings after walking six, including Donnie Murphy and Michael Bourn with the bases loaded in the second. He entered the game averaging 2.1 walks per nine innings. Volquez had a blister on his right thumb that popped in the third inning.

“I asked the trainers if he would miss a start and right away they said no,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Volquez said he has had the blister “in the same spot” in previous years.

“I’ve been dealing with it the last couple of starts, but today was the worst,” Volquez said.

Carlos Santana homered in the seventh, cutting the Royals’ lead to one run. The Royals responded with Omar Infante’s two-run double in the bottom of the inning.

SUSPENSION REDUCED

Royals RHP Kelvin Herrera had his seven-game suspension for incidents, April 19 against Oakland and April 23 at Chicago, reduced to six games after his appeal.

ROYALS OBTAIN CATCHER

The Royals acquired C Drew Butera from the Angels for minor league IF Ryan Jackson. Butera hit .190 in 10 games with the Angels.

COMMISSIONER VISITS

Commissioner Rob Manfred, who is touring all MLB parks, stopped in at Kauffman Stadium. “I think the success Kansas City had last year and the great start they’re off to this year, and the fact that they have a strategy that is sustainable in our system, it says a lot about the health of our industry,” Manfred said. “I would be remiss if I didn’t point out it takes foresight and diligence to accomplish what (owner) David Glass, (president) Dan Glass and (general manager) Dayton (Moore) have accomplished. While I do believe we have a system within which you can draft and acquire young talent, it’s still a tall order to accomplish that in the way they have here.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Indians: With LHP T.J. House (shoulder inflammation) on the DL, LHP Bruce Chen will start Saturday against the Twins.

Royals: SS Alcides Escobar remains on the concussion list, waiting results of Thursday tests.

UP NEXT

Indians: RHP Trevor Bauer, who starts Friday against the Twins, has a 6.06 ERA in three Progressive Field starts.

Royals: RHP Yordano Ventura will make his first start Friday since April 29, after completing his seven-game suspension.

— Associated Press —