Junis helps Royals pick up first victory of season

ROYALS 1, TIGERS 0

DETROIT — With another postponement looming as a possibility, Jakob Junis and the Kansas City Royals breezed to their first victory of the season.

Junis took a shutout into the eighth inning, and the Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 1-0 on Tuesday. On a chilly, rainy day — with snow a possibility on Wednesday — Kansas City and Detroit played nine innings in 2 hours, 17 minutes.

The Royals were the last team in the American League to earn their first win. They already had one game called off because of the weather, on Sunday at home against the White Sox. This one had the potential to be dicey, but although some light rain had fans leaving the lower bowl of seats in the third inning, there were no delays.

“At the beginning, the wind was blowing right in my face, but that kind of helped me out a little bit, to get some more movement on my pitches,” Junis said. “Later in the game it still wasn’t great, but at least the wind had died down a little bit. I pitched in a lot of that type of stuff back in high school, being from Illinois.”

The temperature at game time was 40 degrees.

“Those conditions out there are miserable for everybody,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “When it’s misty like that it helps you a little bit, because you get a little bit of moisture on your fingers. When it’s super ice cold, the ball feels like you’re throwing an ice cube.”

Jorge Soler, who still doesn’t have a major league hit since July 2, drove in the game’s only run with a sacrifice fly in the second.

Junis (1-0) allowed three hits in seven-plus innings. The 25-year-old right-hander walked one and struck out six before being lifted following Mikie Mahtook’s leadoff single in the eighth.

Justin Grimm finished the inning, and Kelvin Herrera struck out two in a perfect ninth for his first save.

Matthew Boyd (0-1) was sharp for the Tigers, allowing a run and four hits in six innings. A native of Mercer Island, Washington, Boyd said he, too, has some experience with conditions like this.

“I think I had an advantage, because I grew up pitching in weather like this,” he said. “In my opinion, it is much easier to pitch in this weather than to hit in it.”

YANKEES 11, RAYS 4 Didi Gregorius hit a pair of three-run homers and drove in a career-high eight RBIs, and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays in Aaron Boone’s chilly first home opener as manager. Gregorius had four hits and walked, setting a major league record for RBIs by a player in a home opener. He also set a Yankees record for RBIs by a shortstop.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

BREWERS 5, CARDINALS 4 Christian Yelich and Ryan Braun hit consecutive homers off Dominic Leone with two out in the ninth, sending the Milwaukee Brewers to a win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Leone (0-1) retired the first two batters, but then lost Yelich on a 2-2 pitch before Braun whacked the next one for his fourth career game-ending homer.

INTERLEAGUE

MARINERS 6, GIANTS 4 Mitch Haniger hit a two-run single, helping the Mariners spoil the Giants’ home opener. Seattle’s Marco Gonzales (1-0) allowed three runs and six hits in 61/3 innings. Edwin Diaz got three outs for his third save.