Tigers rally past Royals with five-run seventh inning

DETROIT — They will frustrate you, even infuriate you at times. But, you have to know by now that they aren’t going to stop fighting.

The Tigers kicked the ball around for the first six innings, repeatedly failed to get a hit with runners in scoring position and looked to be in bad shape down 3-1 entering the bottom of the seventh.

Then lightning struck in the form of a five-run inning capped by a laser three-run homer to left by Matt Vierling, sending the Tigers to a 6-5 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday at Comerica Park.

Of their 15 wins, seven have been the come-from-behind variety.

The damage in the seventh was done against right-handed reliever Chris Stratton and it started with a walk to Jake Rogers. Riley Greene and Mark Canha singled, producing one run. Kerry Carpenter singled in another run. Then with two outs, Vierling dropped the bat head on 1-2 sinker down and in and scorched it.

The ball left his bat with an exit velocity of 111 mph and with a 14-degree launch angle, never got more than 20 feet in the air. It was a missile. It was Vierling’s second homer of the season and it capped a dramatic turn of events.

After being shut out by the Royals Friday, the Tigers mustered only four hits through six innings and were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. They were beating balls into the ground all night — 10 ground-ball outs to that point.

Starter Brady Singer, who came in with a 54% ground-ball rate, walked three of the first six batters he faced but the Tigers turned that into one just run.

That came on a triple by Zach McKinstry, who brought Colt Keith around from first with nobody out in the second inning. But McKinstry never moved off third base. Singer got Javier Baez and Rogers to ground out into the drawn-in infield and Greene struck out.

Baez and Rogers singled with two outs in the fourth, but Singer got Greene to ground out.

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