Royals sweep reeling Tigers, ruin rookie Andrew Sears' debut

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — They don’t all get to be fairy tales.

Lefty Andrew Sears’ big-league debut was spoiled by a couple of mislocated sliders in a four-run fifth inning that propelled the Kansas City Royals to an 11-7 win on Sunday, completing a three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium.

"He will look back on this outing with mixed emotions only because of the damage that was done," manager AJ Hinch said. "He should be proud of himself for making it to this point. He's a big-leaguer now."

It was the Royals’ eighth straight win. And for the fading Tigers, it's five straight losses, eight in the last nine.

"We've got to pick ourselves up," Hinch said. "This was a miserable road trip and the results make that pretty obvious. We show up every day ready to play. The environment is good. The want-to is there. We haven't executed perfectly but we don't have to be perfect to win games. But at the end of the day, you either take a step forward or a step backward. We took couple of steps backward on this trip and we are wearing it."

With a 61-69 record, the Tigers fell seven games back of the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central Division and 3 1/2 back in the wild-card chase.

"We're built to play the whole schedule," Hinch said. "I understand the tough path we've created for ourselves. But I don't care how bleak it looks. We need to show up ready to play against the Rays because they're pretty good."

The Tigers had erased a 5-1 deficit with four runs in the top of the fifth off right-handed reliever Mason Black, giving Sears a clean slate.

Max Clark walked against starter Daniel Lynch IV, went to third on a double by Javier Báez and scored on a ground out by Gleyber Torres. Báez scored on a two-out single by Hao-Yu Lee and Kevin McGonigle followed with his 14th homer, slugging a curveball 392 feet into the seats in right-center.

That good momentum lasted three hitters.

Sears, whose contract was selected from Triple-A Toledo before the game, entered in the bottom of the fourth after the Royals built a 5-1 lead off opener Jacob Waguespack and reliever Ty Madden.

His outing started well, with a clean, 12-pitch fourth. And after walking Nick Loftin to start the fifth, he earned his first big-league strikeout, punching out All-Star Bobby Witt Jr. with a nasty slider.

The slider let him down after that. He left one in the middle of the plate to lefty-swinging Vinnie Pasquantino, who doubled to the gap to score Loftin. Salvador Perez, the 36-year-old Kansas City icon who had stolen his first base since 2021 in a five-run second inning, doubled home Pasquantino.

Then light-hitting lefty John Rave gladly accepted another hanging slider from Sears and slugged into the Royals’ bullpen in right field.

"I thought it was a pretty good outing," said the 23-year-old Sears. "I left a few pitches up, a few mistakes. But I felt like I was in the zone and making my pitches."

Sears had pitched 9 2/3 scoreless innings in two outings at Toledo, the second of which was a bulk relief outing similar to this one.

"I thought I handled things well for the most part," Sears said. "I'm not really used to coming out of the bullpen. That's definitely a change, but the guys down there kept me calm."

He comes with the reputation of being animated and intense on the mound, but he admitted he tamped that down for his debut.

"I didn't want to let it get too out of hand," he said. "I just wanted to pound the zone. I didn't want to get too anxious and spray the ball all over the place. Maybe another outing or two, I will get comfortable out there. I'll be good."

Sears righted himself, though, putting up zeroes in the sixth and seventh innings before exiting after Rave singled to start the eighth. The run came around to score after Rave stole second and third off reliever Kyle Finnegan and scored on a single by Kyle Isbel.

But Sears will be able to tell his kids one day that he struck out Witt Jr. twice in his big-league debut.

"He will remember a lot of the positive things," Hinch said. "But the competitor in him will remember some of the lack of execution, some of the key pitches and some of the damage that was done. There is a lot of accomplishment to get to this point. And now there's a lot of work to do to sharpen up and get to the next outing and settle in like a normal big-leaguer."

His final line will show five runs and six hits with three strikeouts and a walk in four innings. The Royals put 14 balls in play against him with a robust average exit velocity of 94.6 mph.

"He was fine," catcher Eduardo Valencia said. "He was trying to be more focused and be in the zone and that's what he did. It's fun to have him up here with us. He attacks the zone. He's really aggressive and works fast. They were frustrated early because he was working really fast. They made an adjustment to that (in the fifth)."

The Tigers' playoff hopes are fading, but there is still some fight in the dog.

They added an unearned run in the sixth to make it 9-6, though they left two runners on. They loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh against reliever Jose Cuas but only squeezed one run out of it, on a two-out bases-loaded walk to Ben Malgeri.

Valencia helped set the table with a perfect bunt single, a ball that rolled up the third-base line and hit off the bag.

"I hit a couple of ground balls off (Cuas) in Triple-A and I didn't feel comfortable against him," Valencia said. "I didn't want to hit into a double play and freeze the inning. It's been a long time since I bunted, but I felt I needed to in that situation against that pitcher."

Lee, who continues to swing a hot bat, doubled to start the inning and scored the run. On this 1-5 road trip, he went 8 for 17 with two home runs and four RBIs.

McGonigle had another big day with a double, homer, walk and three RBIs. He also made a heady play in the play to end the bottom of the seventh when Sears gave up a two-out single to Isaac Collins.

Right fielder Zach McKinstry cut the ball off in the gap and Collins tried to stretch it to a double. McKinstry slipped and his throw was hurried. McGonigle smartly came off the bag to get the throw and then quickly lunged back to make the tag.

McGonigle, who raised his average to .281 and his OPS to .815, wasn't in a mood to talk about his individual performance afterward.

"Frustrating," he said. "Just, that's it. Frustrating."

Said Hinch: "He's a very special player and a special person. And we're going to keep pushing him to get even better. While he has accomplished a lot, he's never satisfied. His team lost today and that's what he's going to leave the ballpark with. I cherish that mindset."

This is where we are now, looking for pockets of light in a season that's gone suddenly dark.

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