Royals beat the Tigers 3-1 in Alex Gordon’s final game

In the last game of Alex Gordon’s career and the 2020 season, the Royals took down Detroit by a final score of 3-1. Kansas City finished the year winning 12 of its last 18 games.

Brady Singer toed the slab in the series finale with the hopes of duplicating his last outing against the Tigers, in which he tossed six shoutout innings. But Detroit tagged the rookie right-hander for a run in the top of the first on an RBI-double from Brandon Dixon.

In the home half, Kansas City got its final chance to see Gordon walk to the plate in a Major League game. Leading off for the first time since 2017, the 36-year-old received a standing ovation from both dugouts and his family in one of the Kauffman Stadium suites. Just like his first Major League at-bat, Gordon went down swinging on strikes. As it came to be, it would be Gordon’s only plate appearance in the game.

When the Royals took the field in top of the second, Gordon was replaced by Franchy Cordero, effectively ending the storied career of a soon-to-be Royals Hall-of-Famer.

After allowing a the run in the first inning, Singer settled into a groove. The right-hander allowed just one hit over the next six innings and struck out five. But as good as Singer was, the Royals’ offense struggled to string together hits off Tigers rookie Tarik Skubal. It wasn’t until the bottom of the fourth that Kansas City got into the score column.

Adalberto Mondesi, who’d collected 11 hits in his last 12 at-bats, punished an elevated fastball and disposed of into the Detroit bullpen. It was Mondesi’s sixth home run of the year and his second of the series.

In the ensuing inning, Ryan “Boom-Boom” McBroom snapped an 0-for-10 skid with a solo shot into the fountains in left-center field. It was his first hit since being re-called from the alternate site.

Singer’s season came to a close after collecting a pair of strikeouts in a clean frame in the seventh. In his final start, he logged seven innings and allowed one run on three hits with five strikeouts. He posted a 4.06 ERA in 12 starts during his rookie campaign. Scott Barlow fired a scoreless eighth inning with one strikeout to maintain Kansas City’s slim one-run lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, Mondesi notched his third hit of the game on an RBI-double to the wall in right field. He tied George Brett for the most hits in a series with 12. Jesse Hahn locked down the save in the ninth and capped off a strong September for Kansas City.

The Royals finish the season at 26-34. In a typical season, that equates to roughly 70 wins. Kansas City ends up in fourth place in the American League Central for the second consecutive year. The first Spring Training game of 2021 is on Feb. 21 against the Rangers in Surprise, Arizona.

Enjoy the offseason Royals fans and hopefully we’ll see you at Kauffman Stadium next season!

Oh...and thank you, Alex.