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.

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Max Scherzer wasn’t happy to see Tigers manager Jim Leyland marching toward the mound.

The right-hander was clinging to a one-run lead against the Kansas City Royals with two outs in the seventh inning, and a pair of singles had put runners on first and second. The bullpen gate was swinging open and Scherzer knew that his night was done.

“I want the ball,” Scherzer said after watching the Detroit bullpen hang on for a 3-1 victory on Thursday night. “In that situation, I still had plenty in the tank. I understand why he made the move, he wanted the lefty-lefty matchup, but of course I want the ball.”

Instead, Phil Coke sprinted in from right field to retire Mike Moustakas and end the threat.

Joaquin Benoit survived a leadoff single by Brayan Pena in the eighth inning, Don Kelly homered in the bottom half to give the Tigers a two-run cushion, and All-Star closer Jose Valverde hung tough through a wild ninth inning for his 22nd save in 22 chances.

“It is what it is,” said Scherzer (10-4), who finally joined teammate Justin Verlander in reaching the double-digit win plateau before the All-Star break. “I want the ball, and really, that’s the way it’s got to be. If I don’t want the ball in that situation then something’s wrong.”

Leyland said he was simply trying to protect Scherzer, who had thrown only 88 pitches.

“I wasn’t going to let him get hurt,” Leyland said. “After pitching that good, I wasn’t going to let him make one mistake and somebody hits a three-run homer.”

Valverde gave up a two-out walk to Eric Hosmer and an infield single to Jeff Francoeur in the ninth inning, but the animated reliever came back to retire Moustakas with the tying run on second base, marching off the mound with an emphatic fist pump after Detroit’s second straight win.

Moustakas went 0 for 4 after a 0-for-11 series against the Chicago White Sox.

“I’ve been putting some good at-bats together lately. I’m just not getting the results I want right now,” said the rookie third baseman. “The time’s going to come when these fly balls will start turning themselves into line drives and then home runs, hopefully, and the RBIs will start coming.”

The Royals’ inability to score squandered the best start of Danny Duffy’s young career.

The 22-year-old left-hander, who many pundits consider a future ace, allowed two runs and four hits over six stellar innings. Duffy struck out six and walked only one while throwing 65 of 102 pitches for strikes — but still lost for the fourth time in his first five big league decisions.

“He threw the ball great tonight. Really did a nice job,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

In fact, the only major mistake he made was a 1-2 delivery to Raburn with two outs in the second inning that went soaring into the Kansas City bullpen. The two-run shot brought home Miguel Cabrera and gave Scherzer and the Detroit bullpen just enough run support.

“It was down but he went and got it. It just must have been the exact coordinates on the map that he was thinking it was going to be at that point in time,” Duffy said. “I wasn’t finding the zone very well in that inning. It was just a tough inning. It’s a shame it happened the way it did.”

The Royals optioned Duffy to Triple-A Omaha after the game so that he could keep pitching on a regular schedule during next week’s All-Star break.

“He kept us in the game,” Yost said. “He did what we want.”

The Royals just couldn’t help him out at the plate.

They scored their only run in the fifth, when Hosmer shot a pitch down the left-field line for a leadoff double. He advanced to third on Francoeur’s fly ball before scoring on Moustakas’ groundout.

“It’s nice,” Scherzer said. “It’s nice for the team to come in and win the first game of the series.”

Associated Press

Bruce Chen used an assortment of pitches, changed delivery angles and even let one pitch go at 90 mph. The veteran left-hander kept the Chicago White Sox guessing and had them off-balance for most of the day.

The result: a 4-1 Kansas City Royals’ victory Wednesday that allowed them to win two of three at U.S. Cellular Field.

Kansas City scored some early runs and helped the 34-year-old Chen get his first win in two months.

“Those four runs early in the game made the whole difference. I was able to relax and go after the hitters,” Chen said.

He didn’t give up a hit until the fourth inning when he was able to pitch out of a small jam. But his best inning was the sixth when he faced a no-out, bases loaded predicament and escaped with just one run scoring.

“I made good pitches when I needed to. I didn’t have a very high pitch count, so that helped me,” Chen said. “I kept making pitches and got out of that situation with a win, so that was good for us. … I just gave everything I had.”

Chen, who was making his third start since coming off the DL, got his first victory in two months, since beating Baltimore on May 5.

“Chen threw the ball pretty good, you give up one run in a big jam, you cannot take anything away from him,” said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who said before the game he might want an at-bat against Chen because the pitcher had experienced trouble against left-handed batters.

But the White Sox are having problems against all types of pitching.

“We continued to struggle at the plate with people in scoring position. We cannot get the big hit,” Guillen said.

“Obviously it’s frustrating when you come out and every inning you think you’re going to score a bunch of runs and you don’t. It’s been like that for a little while. You try to look for the answer and you can’t find it.”

Chen (5-2) allowed four hits and a run and departed after walking A.J. Pierzynski to start the bottom of the seventh. He retired the first nine batters before Juan Pierre singled leading off the bottom of the fourth.

Greg Holland pitched two shutout innings and Joakim Soria worked the ninth for his 15th save in 20 chances.

“Bruce is that pitcher that I’m sure they’re kicking themselves over there for losing to because his stuff isn’t going to overwhelm you, he makes you put the ball in play,” said the Royals’ Jeff Francoeur, who had two RBIs.

The Royals scored in the first off Edwin Jackson (5-7) as Chris Getz walked, stole second, held at third on Melky Cabrera’s single and scored when Alex Gordon grounded into a double play. Eric Hosmer hit his eighth homer leading off the second on a ball that just went over the glove of Chicago center fielder Alex Rios at the wall.

Francoeur delivered a two-out RBI single in the fourth after Gordon led off with a single and advanced on a grounder, making it 3-0. Francoeur hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth after singles by Gordon and Hosmer and Jackson’s wild pitch, extending the Royals’ lead to 4-0.

Jackson allowed eight hits and four runs in seven innings.

After Pierre singled in the fourth and after Adam Dunn walked, he stole second. But Paul Konerko grounded into an inning-ending double play.

The White Sox put together a rally in the sixth, loading the bases with no outs on singles by Rios and Gordon Beckham and a bunt single by Pierre on a close play a first. Dunn drew a one-out walk to force in a run. But Chen slipped a third strike past Konerko — who hopes to make the All-Star team via online voting — and got Carlos Quentin — already on the AL team — to pop out to end the threat.

“He threw well all day. He basically did everything. I felt good going into the game, so anything I did poorly after that was probably a result of the way he threw the ball. You’ve got to give him credit,” Konerko said.

“Sometimes, it’s easier to face a right-hander that has a 95 mph fastball and a real hard slider. Those aren’t fun, either, but at least you know it’s one of the two pitches and you just have to be right on one of them. He was throwing five different pitches in four different areas, so that makes for a lot of different looks.”

Chen finally got his first win against the White Sox in 11 career appearances. He is now 1/3 in those outings, including six starts.