DETROIT — Salvador Perez and Mike Moustakas hit consecutive homers during a four-run fourth inning, and the Kansas City Royals went on to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-2 on Wednesday night.
Ian Kennedy (2-6) allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings for the Royals, earning his second victory in three starts. He gave up solo homers to Miguel Cabrera and Alex Avila, but only after Kansas City had jumped to a 5-0 lead.
Daniel Norris (4-6) permitted five runs and eight hits in 3 2/3 innings. Six of those hits came in the fourth.
The Royals snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 16-8 in June.
Perez, whose deep fly ball the previous night was caught by Mikie Mahtook on a spectacular play in right-center, gave the Tigers no chance to run down his two-run homer to left-center on Wednesday. The ball cleared the Kansas City bullpen and hit the brick facing behind the seats. The drive was measured at 451 feet by Statcast.
Moustakas followed with his 20th home run of the season, giving the Royals a 4-0 lead. Alex Gordon, who had opened the scoring with an RBI single an inning earlier, added a run-scoring double in the fourth to make it 5-0.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
GIANTS 5, ROCKIES 3 Jae-Gyun Hwang homered in his major league debut, a tiebreaking drive in the sixth inning that helped the host Giants extend the Rockies’ losing streak to a season-high eight games. Hwang, 29, grounded out in the second inning, hit a run-scoring grounder in the fourth that cut Colorado’s lead to 2-1, and then broke a 3-3 tie when he homered against Kyle Freeland (8-6).
NATIONALS 8, CUBS 4 Stephen Strasburg struck out 13 in seven innings, Bryce Harper had two doubles and two RBIs, and the Washington Nationals beat the Chicago Cubs. Anthony Rendon and Matt Wieters hit back-to-back homers against John Lackey (5-9) during Washington’s four-run second inning.
REDS 4, BREWERS 3 Scooter Gennett hit a two-run homer against the club that decided he no longer fit its rebuilding plans, and Billy Hamilton scored the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning, rallying the Cincinnati Reds over the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers lost starter Chase Anderson to a strained oblique.
METS 8, MARLINS 0 Steven Matz pitched seven innings and two relievers completed a seven-hitter to help the New York Mets beat the Miami Marlins. Asdrubal Cabrera and Curtis Granderson each hit a two-run homer in support of Matz (2-1), who allowed six hits, all singles, and one walk while lowering his ERA to 2.67 in four starts this year.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
BLUE JAYS 4, ORIOLES 0 Marcus Stroman pitched five-hit ball into the eighth inning, Jose Bautista and Justin Smoak homered, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles.
ROYALS 8, TIGERS 2 Salvador Perez and Mike Moustakas hit consecutive homers during a fourrun fourth inning, and the Kansas City Royals went on to beat the Detroit Tigers.
TWINS 4, RED SOX 1 Adalberto Mejia pitched 52/3 innings in his second straight scoreless start, Max Kepler hit a two-run homer and Minnesota rebounded from two consecutive losses against Boston.
INDIANS 5, RANGERS 3 Trevor Bauer pitched into the seventh inning, Michael Brantley drove in two runs and Cleveland got the win in manager Terry Francona’s return to the team. Francona was cleared to come back after another health scare forced him to leave Monday’s game and miss Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to Texas. The 58-year-old Francona has been fitted with a heart monitor, but he said doctors have ruled out any serious health issues.
INTERLEAGUE
PIRATES 6, RAYS 2 Jose Osuna doubled twice and drove in two runs, rookie Josh Bell hit his 15th homer and Pittsburgh jumped all over Tampa Bay’s Blake Snell.
PHILLIES 5, MARINERS 4 Tommy Joseph hit his 13th home run of the season leading off the ninth inning, Andrew Knapp followed with a twoout RBI single and the Philadelphia Phillies rallied past the Seattle Mariners.