Minus Martinez, Tigers still pound Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nicholas Castellanos homered twice and drove in five runs, Detroit scored five times in the second inning and the Tigers cruised from there to a 9-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.

After trading slugger J.D. Martinez to Arizona for a package of prospects before the game, the Tigers proved they didn’t need him in the lineup — at least for one night — to win their fourth straight game.

Castellanos also tripled to finish a double shy of the cycle. Victor Martinez drove in a pair of runs, and the Tigers, who began selling ahead of the July 31 trade deadline, still managed to give fill-in starter Matt Boyd (3-5) plenty of support in his return from the minors.

Boyd allowed three runs and seven hits over six innings, striking out three and walking one. It was his first big league win since April 16, a skid that included four losses and four no-decisions.

He outperformed Travis Wood (1-3), who allowed six runs and nine hits in 41/ innings. 3

Most of the damage against Wood came in the second, when the Tigers strung together four straight hits to start the inning. Victor Martinez’s two-run double started the scoring, and by the time Castellanos added a two-run triple, the Tigers had turned a 3-0 deficit into a 5-3 advantage.

Castellanos added his 13th homer of the season with one out in the fifth inning.

Boyd had trouble of his own in the first, when he coughed up three runs on four singles and a hit batter. But the left-hander settled down to retire Kansas City in order in the second, then dodged what little trouble he faced before turning the game over to his bullpen.

It was the seventh loss in eight games for the Royals, going back to a three-game skid entering the AllStar break, and a particularly disheartening one given their three-run first inning.