Early exit for Singer burns bullpen, Royals fall in extras 8-5

Brady Singer failed to get through four innings, requiring manager Matt Quatraro to ask for 6 ¹⁄₃ innings for his bullpen as the Royals fell in ten innings 8-5 in the series opener against Detroit. Royals pitchers combined to walk 10 Tigers hitters, part of the worst lineup in baseball.

Singer fell into trouble in the opening frame. He issued a two-out walk with the bases loaded to Akil Baddoo, then Matt Vierling drove in two more with a single. But the revamped Royals lineup got that right back with three in the bottom of the inning. New leadoff hitter Nick Pratto started it off with a walk, then Vinnie Pasquantino followed up by drilling his ninth home run of the year. Salvy made it back-to-back blasts with his 11th home run of the year to tie it up 3-3.

Singer worked around trouble in the second, but the Tigers plated home two more in the third on a two-run home run by Vierling to make it 5-3. He would exit in the fourth inning after issuing a walk to Spencer Torkelson, his fourth walk of the game in 3 ²⁄₃ innings with seven hits allowed and five runs with three strikeouts.

The Royals tied things up in the fifth when Nicky Lopez announced his return from the Injured List with a leadoff triple. Jackie Bradley Jr. followed that up with a two-run home run, his first in a Royals uniform.

Amir Garrett had trouble with his control in the sixth and he and Jose Cuas combined to walk the bases loaded, but Cuas was able to get out of the jam unscathed. The Royals had a few baserunners in the late innings but couldn’t get anything going.

With Singer exiting so early, the Royals had to use a parade of relievers, including a second inning of work from Scott Barlow. After a shutout inning in the ninth, he ran into trouble in the tenth when he walked Zack Short, and Riley Greene singled, moving extra inning runner Eric Haase to third and loading the bases. Javier Baez ripped a fastball down the middle for a bases-clearing double to give the Tigers an 8-5 lead.

Maikel Garcia walked in the bottom of the tenth to put the tying run at the plate, but Nick Pratto and Vinnie Pasquantino struck out against Tigers reliver Jose Cisnero, and Salvador Perez flied out to end the game.

The Royals fall to 14-35 and will try to even the series tomorrow evening. The Tigers will start Eduardo Rodriguez, while the Royals have yet to name a starter.