KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Anibal Sanchez could have thrown his fastball into a knothole on Sunday.

The Kansas City Royals are getting used to it, too.

The Tigers’ starter once again breezed through the American League champions Sunday, carrying a perfect game into the sixth inning. Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer, Alex Avila also drove in three runs and the Tigers went on to a 6-4 victory for a split of the four-game series.

“I guess I just know them really well,” Sanchez said when asked why he continually confounds the Royals. “We’ll see. I face them again in my next start.”

Good news for the Tigers. Not so much for the Royals.

Detroit dropped the first two games of the series before squeaking out a 2-1 victory behind David Price’s masterpiece Saturday night. Sanchez (2-3) then held the Royals without a baserunner until Paulo Orlando dribbled a single up the middle leading off the sixth inning.

Sanchez wound up allowing three runs and four hits over 7 1/3 innings.

“When his stuff is on,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus aid, “he can be electric.”

Kansas City nearly bailed out Jeremy Guthrie (1-2) by scoring two runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth. But Tom Gorzelanny struck out Eric Hosmer to leave a runner aboard, and Joakim Soria shut down his former team in the ninth for his 10th save.

“I thought we could have won three out of the four, quite honestly,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “I felt we had a great opportunity to win that game last night.

Guthrie didn’t give them much of a chance on Sunday. After giving up an RBI single to Avila in the second inning and loading the bases for him in the fourth, Avila hit a two-run single that ultimately cleared the bases when Orlando fumbled the ball.

Ian Kinsler added a single in the fifth before Cabrera hit his sixth homer this year.

Guthrie ended up allowing all six runs and 11 hits in six innings. The poor outing came after a dazzling start to the series by Kansas City pitchers, who had allowed Detroit’s potent offense to score just four runs total in the first three games.

“It was kind of a strange day,” Yost said. “He commanded the ball. His strike to ball ratio was good. He was changing speeds well. The one hit that hurt was the two-run homer by Cabrera.”

Sanchez has struggled early this season — the Tigers had lost his last four starts — but he’s owned the Royals his entire career. He had been 5-2 with a 1.07 ERA in his previous seven starts against the Tigers’ biggest rival for division supremacy.

With a crowd of 38,326 packed inside Kauffman Stadium, the third straight sellout, the right-hander calmly mowed through the Royals lineup for most of the afternoon.

Kansas City did not have its second baserunner until Sanchez walked Kendrys Morales with one out in the seventh. The Royals went on to score on Erik Kratz’s sacrifice fly and Omar Infante’s single, then added runs in the eighth on a single by Morales and Mike Moustakas’s groundout.

“We know the Royals pretty well. They know us pretty well,” Ausmus said, when asked to sum up the first series of the season between AL Central contenders. “I don’t think there was any eureka moments. Just two pretty good teams.”

BIG CROWDS

The Royals welcomed 143,609 fans, the seventh-best mark for a four-game series at Kauffman Stadium. It was a record for a four-game set since the 2009 renovation decreased capacity.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: SS Jose Iglesias left in the sixth inning with tightness in his left groin, and is listed as day to day. Andrew Romine replaced him in the lineup.

Royals: All-Star closer Greg Holland (strained pectoral muscle) is expected to come off the disabled list Tuesday. He reported no problems after a simulated game Saturday.

UP NEXT

Tigers: RHP Shane Greene will take the mound after a day off to open a three-game set against the White Sox. The series beginning Tuesday night wraps up a 10-game trip.

Royals: LHP Jason Vargas tries to solve his early season struggles in the opener of a three-game series against Cleveland on Tuesday night. Kansas City is off Monday.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — David Price lost his shutout bid in the ninth inning, but still had enough to finish off the Kansas City Royals.

Price threw a five hitter for his 12th career complete game — the first by Detroit this season — in the Tigers’ 2-1 victory over the Royals on Saturday night.

Price (3-1) limited the Royals to four singles until Lorenzo Cain’s homer with two out in the ninth spoiled his bid for his second career shutout.

“I’ve done that before where I get two outs in the ninth (but not finish the shutout),” Price said. “That was a really good pitch to Cain. He’s turned himself into a star, not because he hit a homer off me. He’s one of the top players in baseball. It’s tough to get that guy out four times.”

Price struck out three and walked none. His only shutout was April 24, 2012, against the Los Angeles Angels.

He threw 106 pitches, 75 for strikes, retiring 16 on three pitches or fewer.

“I always want to get 27 outs,” Price said. “I want that every fifth day.”

The Royals had only one runner reach second base before Cain’s home run and that was after Price committed a fielding error in the sixth inning. He quickly got out of that by coaxing Mike Moustakas to ground into a double play.

“I guess I thought it was hit a little bit harder and didn’t take the hop I expected it to take,” Price said of Alex Gordon’s comebacker he failed to pick up. “That’s a play I’ve got to make.”

Other than that and Cain’s home run, Price was nearly flawless.

“Price just pitched a fantastic game,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He was really on top of his game with a 96 miles per hour fastball and command. He had a 2-to-1 strikeout-to-ball ratio.”

Anthony Gose, who was 1 for 10 on this trip, had three of the Tigers’ seven hits, including a double in the fifth. He scored on Ian Kinsler’s RBI single to make it 2-0.

“When he gets on base in a leadoff position he can take a little pressure off the guys behind him,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said.

Kinsler and Yoenis Cespedes each had two hits.

The Tigers took the lead in the third on Christian Colon’s throwing error. Rajai Davis, who led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a Gose single, score on the miscue.

Royals right-hander Edinson Volquez (2-3) returned to the rotation after serving a five-game suspension and gave up the two runs and five hits, while walking three and striking out four in six innings.

“He (Price) was better than me,” Volquez said. “We all know what he can do. It’s not a surprise.”

Price had a rough outing against the Yankees on April 22, when he gave up eight runs and 10 hits in 2 1/3 innings. Other than that, he has allowed eight runs and 24 hits over 37 2/3 innings (1.91 ERA) spanning five starts.

SPA DAY

OF J.D. Martinez, who is on a 1-for-13 slide with eight strikeouts, was not in Tigers lineup for the first time. “Just sit back for a day and watch the game until you are called upon,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. “It’s almost like going to a spa for a day. It’s mentally relaxing.”

TIGERS LOSE CHALLENGE

The Tigers challenged Gose’s out call in the seventh inning on a double play. After a 3-minute, 21-second review delay, the call was not reversed. “My last move was towards third base and I needed to go back and touch second,” Gose said was the umpires explanation to him.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: RHP Justin Verlander (right triceps strain) will get his third MRI this week in Chicago to learn if inflammation is subsiding enough to increase his throwing program.

Royals: RHP Greg Holland said he felt no discomfort after throwing 25 pitches in a simulated game Saturday. “I felt sharp especially after not throwing to live hitters in almost two weeks,” Holland said. “I’m really glad the way it went.” Manager Ned Yost said Holland would come off the disabled list “hopefully Tuesday.”

UP NEXT

Tigers: RHP Anibal Sanchez is 5-2 with a 1.07 ERA in seven career starts against the Royals.

Royals: RHP Jeremy Guthrie is 9-7 with a 4.63 ERA in 22 appearances against the Tigers.

— Associated Press —