KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Brady Singer threw seven shutout innings to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 4-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday to salvage the finale of the three-game series.
Singer (8-4) allowed four hits and one walk, striking out six and retiring 16 of the last 18 batters he faced. The Royals have won six of his last seven starts; he is 4-0 with a 2.25 ERA over that span.
The shutout was the Tigers’ 20th of 2022, the most in the majors, five more than the next closest teams, the Royals and the Pittsburgh Pirates at 15. It’s the most shutouts for the franchise in a season since the 1975 Tigers were also shutout 20 times. Only the 1905 Tigers (21) and 1904 Tigers (26) were shutout more in franchise history.
The Tigers are just the fifth American League team since the adoption of the designated hitter in 1973 (a span of 50 seasons) to be shut out at least 20 times in a season. The others: the 1975 Tigers, the 1981 Toronto Blue Jays (20), the 1973 New York Yankees (21) and the 1976 Chicago White Sox (21).
Kansas City jumped on the board in the first inning with Nick Pratto’s sacrifice fly scoring Bobby Witt Jr. Witt had a pair of hits, including a double, his 51st extra-base hit, leading all major league rookies.
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Drew Waters’ two-out double into the right-field corner scored Michael A. Taylor and Nate Eaton to expand Kansas City’s lead to 3-0 in the second inning.
In the fourth, Michael Massey hit a leadoff homer, the second time he has gone deep this season, to make it 4-0. Each of the Royals’ RBIs were contributed by rookie hitters.
Detroit starter Tyler Alexander (3-10) went five innings, allowing four runs on six hits and a walk.
Spencer Torkelson had the Tigers’ only extra-base hit, a one-out double in the seventh.
Free Press sports writer Ryan Ford contributed to this report.