KANSAS CITY, Mo. — David Price took a shutout into the ninth inning before finishing with a five-hitter as the Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 2-1 Saturday night.
Price (3-1) limited the Royals to four singles until Lorenzo Cain homered with two-out in the ninth spoiled his bid for his second career shutout. Price struck out three and walked none. His only shutout was April 24, 2012, against the Los Angeles Angels.
Price threw 106 pitches, 75 for strikes, retiring 16 on three pitches or fewer.
The Royals had only one runner reach second base before Cain’s home run and that was after Price committed a fielding error in the sixth inning. He quickly got out of that by coaxing Mike Moustakas to ground into a double play.
Anthony Gose, who was 1 for 10 on this trip, had three of the Tigers’ seven hits, including a double in the fifth. He scored on Ian Kinsler’s RBI single to make it 2-0.
Kinsler and Yoenis Cespedes each had two hits.
The Tigers took the lead in the third on Christian Colon’s throwing error. Rajai Davis, who led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a Gose single, score on the miscue.
Royals right-hander Edinson Volquez (2-3) returned to the rotation after serving a five-game suspension and gave up the two runs and five hits, while walking three and striking out four in six innings.
Price had a rough outing against the Yankees on April 22, when he gave up eight runs and 10 hits in 2 1/3 innings. Other than that, he has allowed eight runs and 24 hits over 37 2/3 innings (1.91 ERA) spanning five starts.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Tigers: RHP Justin Verlander (right triceps strain) will get his third MRI this week in Chicago to learn if inflammation is subsiding enough to increase his throwing program. He has been restricted to soft toss.
Royals: RHP Greg Holland said he felt no discomfort after throwing 25 pitches in a simulated game Saturday. “I felt sharp especially after not throwing to live hitters in almost two weeks,” Holland said. “I’m really glad the way it went.” Manager Ned Yost said Holland would come off the disabled list “hopefully Tuesday.”
UP NEXT
Tigers: RHP Anibal Sanchez is 5-2 with a 1.07 ERA in seven career starts against the Royals.
Royals: RHP Jeremy Guthrie is 9-7 with a 4.63 ERA in 22 appearances against the Tigers. He went 2-2 in 2014 against Detroit.
