OMAHA, Neb. — Nicky Lopez couldn’t have imagined a better homecoming to Omaha.

The rookie hit his first major league home run in the stadium where he played college ball, starting the Kansas City Royals’ scoring in a 7-3 win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night in the first big league regular season game played in Nebraska.

“I knew a lot of college friends and coaches here and people around the community,” said Lopez, who played for Creighton University from 2014-16. “I didn’t know it was gone. I knew I hit it pretty good, maybe a double or triple.”

The game at TD Ameritrade Park coincided with the buildup to the College World Series, which begins Saturday. All eight CWS teams were among the sellout crowd of 25,454 and participated in a pregame ceremony with the major league teams.

“It was fun. The energy level was fun,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Every time I turned around, all I saw was Royals hats and shirts. That was great to see. I wanted us to come in here and put on a good show for our fans in Omaha.”

Lopez hit just one home run in 75 games at TD Ameritrade as a collegian. The second baseman returned to Omaha 8 for 61 in his previous 15 games and sat out Wednesday’s game in Kansas City before going 2 for 4.

In his first trip to the plate, he lined Matthew Boyd’s 1-1 pitch into the right field bullpen leading off the third inning. Martin Maldonado followed with a double and came home when Boyd was called for a balk.

The Royals tacked on three runs in the fourth and one each the next two innings on their way to their highest run total since May 29. They had scored a total of eight runs over their previous four games.

Lopez got a high-five from Yost when he returned to the dugout after his home run.

“The funny thing was I asked him, `Nicky, is your dad sitting home watching?” Yost said. “He said, `Yeah.’ I said, `I hate to tell you the (ESPN) TV truck just broke down and they weren’t televising then.’ That was a shame.”

Kansas City starter Homer Bailey (5-6) gave up a pair of singles, walked three, hit a batter and struck out six before Jorge Lopez came on to start the seventh. Dawel Lugo tripled past diving right fielder Whit Merrifield and scored on a groundout for the Tigers’ first run.

The Royals won two of three over the Tigers for their first series win since April 12-14 against Cleveland.

“We needed to get that over with,” Yost said. “We needed to score some runs because we’ve been pitching really well. Homer was right on track with that tonight. He threw the ball extremely well. Nice to have a little leeway to make a mistake, which he didn’t have.”

Boyd (5-5), who pitched for Oregon State in the 2013 CWS and threw a four-hit shutout against Indiana, lasted four innings and threw 94 pitches in his shortest outing in six starts.

“He threw a ton of pitches,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “That’s not the norm for him. He kind of messed around with some of those guys who are real fast. He needed to attack those guys and keep them off the bases, and he kind of got behind and put too many people on base and then it turns into a bloop here, a bloop there. It wasn’t his night.”

Merrifield doubled twice and drove in two in his return to Omaha. He was the hero of South Carolina’s 2010 national championship team, singling in the winning run against UCLA in the deciding game of the CWS finals in the last game played at Rosenblatt Stadium.

“Great crowd. Great to see a sellout,” Merrifield said. “They did a great job of putting this on. It was cool to come back. Different stadium and different feel, but it was cool to relive it.”

TRAINING ROOM

Tigers: CF JaCoby Jones was hit by a pitch in the elbow in the fifth inning and left the game in the sixth. … SS Niko Goodrum returned to the lineup after missing one game after fouling a ball off his kneecap Tuesday. … Casey Mize, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2018 draft, left his Thursday start for Double-A Erie after 2 1/3 innings with right shoulder soreness, vice president of player development Dave Littlefield said.

Royals: 1B Lucas Duda (back) was reinstated from the injured list after missing 42 games. He hit .286 with a homer and three doubles in his 12-game rehab assignment at Omaha. …. LF Alex Gordon, who grew up 50 miles away in Lincoln and played for Nebraska, was out of the lineup with a shoulder bruise, the result of getting hit by a pitch Wednesday. … 3B Hunter Dozier (thorax) will take batting practice on the field Friday and is getting closer to returning, manager Ned Yost said.

UP NEXT

RHP Brad Keller (3-8, 4.29 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday night when the Royals open a six-game road trip at Minnesota. LHP Ryan Carpenter (1-3, 7.89) will start the Tigers’ opener of a three-game home weekend set against Cleveland.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Brandon Dixon broke an eighth-inning tie with a sacrifice fly that sent the Detroit Tigers past the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Wednesday night.

Miguel Cabrera also had a sacrifice fly for the Tigers, and Ronny Rodriguez hit an RBI double.

Jorge Soler drove in both Royals runs but flied out with a runner on to end the game.

The teams now head to Omaha, Nebraska, to play the first Major League Baseball game in that state Thursday night as a prelude to the College World Series, which begins Saturday in the same ballpark.

The Royals need a victory to win a series for the first time since April 12-14.

After the start was delayed 24 minutes because of the threat of rain, Royals reliever Jake Diekman (0-3) walked JaCoby Jones leading off the eighth. Christin Stewart doubled under the glove of first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, sending Jones to third.

After walking Nicholas Castellanos, Diekman struck out Cabrera. But then Dixon sent right fielder Terrance Gore to the fence for the go-ahead sacrifice fly.

Nick Ramirez (3-0) pitched two scoreless innings to earn the win. Shane Greene worked the ninth for his 20th save in 21 chances.

Neither starter factored in the decision.

Danny Duffy had a solid outing for the Royals. After walking his first two batters, he buckled down and completed seven innings, allowing two runs and four hits. He walked only those two batters and struck out six.

Tigers starter Daniel Norris gave up two runs and six hits in five innings with two walks and six strikeouts.

Cabrera drove in Jones with a sac fly in the first inning as Detroit scored without the benefit of a hit.

After wasting a couple of scoring chances in the first two innings, the Royals finally got a run in the third. Whit Merrifield stroked a leadoff double to the wall in left-center. He stole third and scored on Soler’s double.

Detroit came right back in the fourth when John Hicks and Rodriguez hit back-to-back doubles.

Soler’s two-out single knocked in Alex Gordon in the fifth.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Tigers: SS Niko Goodrum was out of the lineup after fouling a ball off his kneecap Tuesday. “He’s sore. There was some swelling. He’s moving around. We’ll talk to him and see how he feels and go on from there,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. … INF Jeimer Candelario was set to begin his rehab assignment at Triple-A Toledo. He’s been on the 10-day injured list since June 4 (retroactive to June 2) with left shoulder inflammation. … RHP Jordan Zimmermann will pitch Thursday for Toledo on his rehab assignment.

Royals: 3B Hunter Dozier took grounders and some swings off a tee. Kansas City manager Ned Yost said Dozier was expected to take more swings in the cage Thursday. If everything goes well, he’ll take batting practice on the field and likely head out on a rehab assignment.

UP NEXT

LHP Matthew Boyd (5-4, 3.08 ERA) starts Thursday night for Detroit against RHP Homer Bailey (4-6, 5.90). Boyd’s last appearance at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha was in 2013, when he pitched a four-hit shutout to help Oregon State beat Indiana 1-0 in a College World Series elimination game.

— Associated Press —-

The Kansas City Royals announced Wednesday that they have agreed to terms with shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., the club’s first-round pick (2nd overall) in the 2019 First-Year Player Draft. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Witt Jr., who will turn 19 years old on Friday, is the son of right-handed pitcher Bobby Witt, who played 16 seasons with seven different teams in the Majors from 1986-2001, and was the third overall pick by Texas in the 1985 Draft. The Witts are the ninth father-son duo selected in the first round and the first to be selected within the first three picks. They pass Tom Grieve (6th overall in 1968) and Ben Grieve (2nd overall in 1994) as the highest-drafted father-son duo.

— Royals Press Release —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jorge Soler had the tying RBI double in the eighth inning and Cheslor Cuthbert followed with the go-ahead run-scoring single to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.

Adalberto Mondesi started the rally with his third hit of the game, a double with one out off Daniel Stumpf, and scored on Soler’s ensuing hit off Victor Alcantara (2-1). Terrance Gore ran for Soler and stole third. He then scored on Cuthbert’s single between three fielders in right field to put the Royals ahead.

Scott Barlow (2-2) pitched a scoreless eighth inning to get the win, and Ian Kennedy got the last three outs for his fifth save.

The Tigers’ bullpen wasted a brilliant effort from Spencer Turnbull. He scattered four hits and two walks with five strikeouts over six innings. It was only the third time in 14 starts that Turnbull had not allowed a run.

Jakob Junis had a quality start for Kansas City, allowing two runs and five hits with five strikeouts in seven innings.

The Tigers got to Junis in the first on a 427-foot home run by Nicholas Castellanos to left-center. It was Castellanos’ 100th career homer, all with the Tigers.

Junis gave up a run in the first inning for the ninth time in 14 starts. His ERA in those first innings is 8.36, compared to 4.71 in the other innings.

Brandon Dixon hit a 447-foot homer in the fourth, into the fountains 20 feet beyond where Castellanos’ homer traveled, to put the Tigers up 2-0.

Following Turnbull’s departure, Ryan O’Hearn led off the seventh with his sixth home run of the season. He broke an 0-for-15 slump with his 439-foot blast to right.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals 3B Hunter Dozier was eligible to come off the 10-day injured list, but he is not close to being ready. He’s been on the IL since June 3, retroactive to May 31. Manager Ned Yost said, “We’re going to be working him back into it, making sure everything is functional and feeling good. We’ve got to make sure that he’s healthy, 100 percent. I don’t know if we’ll want to send him out on a rehab. When he’s ready to go we’ll make that decision.”

Tigers: SS Niko Goodrum was removed from the game following the top of the third after he fouled a pitch off his knee. He left with a right knee contusion. He finished the at-bat with a strikeout and was replaced by Gordon Beckham in the bottom of the third.

UP NEXT

The Tigers will send LHP Daniel Norris (2-5, 4.60 ERA) to the mound in the second game of the series. The Royals will counter with LHP Danny Duffy (3-3, 4.68 ERA). Duffy was hit on the right kneecap in his last start against Boston. The line drive bounced to third for the final out of the second inning. He came back out for the third but retired just one of six batters he faced in the inning before being pulled.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Once Reynaldo Lopez went one pitch at a time, things worked out fine.

Following three consecutive poor outings, Lopez pitched six effective innings against Kansas City on Sunday. And backed by a 471-foot homer from Eloy Jimenez, the Chicago White Sox defeated the Royals 5-2.

“The biggest difference was that I was able to clear my mind and be focused on the pitches I needed to execute,” Lopez said through a translator. “In the past, I was thinking about other pitches in the game, or my mechanics.”

“I was able to clear my and stay focused all through the game,” he said.

A day after Lucas Giolito shut down the Royals in a 2-0 victory, Lopez (4-6) allowed one run and four hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out eight.

Lopez had been struggling recently, giving up 19 earned runs in his last 13 1/3 innings over his previous three starts.

“All my pitches were good today,” he said. “I was able to command, execute and finish all my pitches the way I know I can do it.

“I know that this team needs me, and I need to perform at my best every time I’m out there. We’re fighting every day and we want to win every time we’re on the field. Today was a step forward to that purpose,” he said.

His manager appreciated the difference.

“He threw very, very well,” Chicago manager Rick Renteria said. “His curveball was working very well, and his slider was working well. He was using it for punchouts. He commanded his fastball a little better. All in all, much better in catching the strike zone and mixing in his secondary pitches.”

Yoan Moncada had four hits and an RBI for the White Sox, who lost the series opener but had back-to-back solid pitching performances to take the last two games.

The Royals are 0-6 in rubber games in 2019, continuing a streak that started early last season. Kansas City has lost 14 straight rubber games, dating to May 30, 2018, and is now 0-14-2 in its last 16 series.

They struck out 11 times, the 11th time in 16 games they’ve reached double-figures.

“We’re on a strikeout run here,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “We’re striking out a bunch, but they’re not on strikes, generally. They’re on pitches down below the zone. Curveballs give us a bit of a problem here lately, and we keep swinging at them.”

Glenn Sparkman (1-2) gave up two earned runs and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings.

Jimenez led off the second with the longest home run at Kauffman Stadium since Brandon Moss hit a 474-foot drive for the Royals against the Twins July 1, 2017. The White Sox added an unearned run later in the inning on Charlie Tilson’s double.

“Nah,” Jimenez said through a smile when asked if that was the farthest home run he’d hit. “In a game, I hit one 490 in spring training. This was my first in the majors in a game that counted.”

Jorge Soler hit a 445-foot shot homer in the fourth, snapping Kansas City’s 13-inning scoreless drought.

The White Sox got a run in each of the last three innings, on Moncada’s single that scored Tilson in the seventh, an eighth-inning double by Tim Anderson and an unearned run in the ninth.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals 1B Lucas Duda continues on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Omaha. He’s 12 for 35 with one home run and three doubles in 10 games with the Storm Chasers. He’s been on the IL since April 26 with a lumbar strain.

ROSTER NEWS

White Sox RHP Dylan Covey was placed on the 10-day injured list with shoulder inflammation, retroactive to June 6. The White Sox recalled RHP Thyago Vieira from Triple-A Charlotte. Vieira is 1-0 with 2.08 ERA in three relief appearances with the White Sox this season. He was 3-1 with 17 saves and 24 strikeouts in 17 appearances in Charlotte.

UP NEXT

White Sox: Open a six-game, seven-day homestand Monday against the Washington Nationals. Renteria said the White Sox would make the decision on their starter Monday after talking to the players who may be affected by any roster moves. The Nationals swept a two-game series from Chicago on June 4-5, including winning on a walk-off home run by Trea Turner in the second game.

Royals: Will have Monday off before opening a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday. RHP Jakob Junis (4-6, 5.63 ERA) will start for the Royals against Spencer Turnbull (3-5, 3.01 ERA).

— Associated Press —