Royals take advantage of Tigers bullpen in 4-1 victory for a sweep

Quick Hits

• Anibal Sanchez no-hit the Royals through 6.2 innings
• Alex Gordon hit a home run off the first non-Anibal Sanchez pitch of the game
• The Tigers bullpen "fell flat on its face" (Denny!)

Anibal Sanchez has been having a Very Bad Year, but tonight he pitched a Very Good Game. The Royals could not get a hit against him until the seventh inning, when Eric Hosmer banged a double off the wall on a curveball left up in the zone. Sanchez used quite a few pitches to get to that point, so the Tigers removed him in favor of other pitchers to begin the eighth inning. The Royals promptly took advantage.

Justin Wilson threw a first-pitch fastball to Alex Gordon, who looked like he was hunting for the pitch. It was 95 mph, but Gordon got ahead of it and pulled it into the seats beyond the right field wall to tie the game. It was Gordon's 10th home run of the season. Raul Mondesi tripled two outs later, but Paulo Orlando couldn’t bring him in.

Shane Greene pitched the ninth inning after getting Orlando out the previous inning / sentence. That was pretty cool. You know. Runs and stuff. Lorenzo Cain singled with one out, and no-hitter-killer Eric Hosmer blasted a home run to give the Royals the lead. Kendrys Morales laced a double down the right field line and was removed in favor of Jarrod Dyson. With first base open, the Tigers intentionally walked Gordon to get to Alcides Escobar, who struck out. Drew Butera worked a full count before blooping a pitch to short right field, which scored Dyson. Mark Lowe replaced Greene and got Mondesi to end the scoring.

Nevertheless, the Royals were pretty hapless against Sanchez, the only two baserunners being two walks in the fifth inning. Hosmer walked but got erased attempting to steal. Gordon later walked, and Escobar, apparently not noticing that Sanchez was struggling to throw strikes this inning, swung on the first pitch for the third out. That was it against Sanchez until the seventh.

Yordano Ventura didn’t quite match Sanchez pitch for pitch, but he allowed only one run for his part. In the second inning, Ventura threw what looked like a two-seam fastball low and in to Victor Martinez, who jumped on the pitch to put it in the right field seats.

Ventura scattered five hits over his 6.1 innings and got a sterling defensive play from Cheslor Cuthbert to save a run or two in the fourth inning. He got seven strikeouts. Matt Strahm and Kelvin Herrera locked down the sweep for the now-.500 Royals.

Hooray for the Tigers bullpen!