Skoglund baffles Tigers in debut with Royals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Eric Skoglund pitched 61/ innings of 3 two-hit ball in his major league debut, helping the Kansas City Royals beat Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers 1-0 on Tuesday night.

Skoglund, a 2014 third- round draft pick out of Central Florida, struck out five and walked one. The left- hander was promoted from Triple-A Omaha when the Royals placed Danny Duffy on the disabled list Monday with an oblique strain.

Verlander (4-4) left after seven innings, allowing one run and six hits. He struck out five and walked one.

The Royals jumped in front in the sixth. Alcides Escobar and Mike Moustakas began the inning with singles, but Lorenzo Cain rolled into a double play. Eric Hosmer got Escobar home with a single to center.

Skoglund walked Miguel Cabrera and yielded a single to Victor Martinez with two out in the first. J.D. Martinez went down swinging to end the inning for Skoglund's first big league strikeout.

The Tigers did not have another runner touch second base. Skoglund retired the next 14 batters before Dixon Machado's one-out single in the sixth.

After Victor Martinez flied out to left to begin the seventh on Skoglund's 90th pitch, manager Ned Yost summoned Peter Moylan from the bullpen.

Skoglund walked off the mound to a standing ovation and doffed his cap the Kauffman Stadium crowd before going into the dugout.

Moylan struck out J. D. Martinez and Justin Upton on six pitches to end the seventh. Mike Minor worked around a single in the eighth. Kelvin Herrera pitched a spotless ninth for his 12th save in 14 opportunities.

RANGERS 9, RAYS 5

Elvis Andrus had a career-high five RBIs, including a tying threerun homer in the seventh inning, Jared Hoying hit a tiebreaking single that missed going out by about a foot and the Texas Rangers rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-5 on Tuesday night. Andrus’ two-out drive deep into the visiting bullpen ended a stretch of five scoreless innings from the Tampa Bay bullpen after Matt Andriese left in the second with a mild groin strain.

ASTROS 7, TWINS 2

Jose Berrios easily had the worst outing since his return to the majors as the Houston Astros beat the Twins 7-2. The Astros now eye a sweep of the threegame series, and they continue to show why they might be baseball’s best team. As for the Twins, they needed Berrios, who turned 23 last week, to be a stopper. It was too much to ask for on a night in which he needed 104 pitches to get through five innings. His lack of command made his snappy curveball less effective, and Astros hitters squared up other pitches that were served over the fat part of the plate.

YANKEES 8, ORIOLES 3

Brett Gardner and Matt Holliday each homered twice, Aaron Judge drove in two runs and the New York Yankees received a solid pitching performance from Luis Severino in an 8-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night. Gardner set the tone for the AL East leaders by connecting on the third pitch from Chris Tillman ( 1- 2), who had not allowed a home run in his previous four starts this season. Holliday went deep in the first inning and again in the third, his 22nd career multihomer game.

NATIONAL LEAGUE DODGERS 9, CARDINALS 4

Chase Utley, Logan Forsythe and Chris Taylor combined to reach base 11 times and totaled six runs, helping the streaking Los Angeles Dodgers rally past the St. Louis Cardinals 9-4 on Tuesday night. Utley finished a homer shy of the cycle as the Dodgers won their season-high sixth straight game. Forsythe reached five times, including three walks, and Taylor reached three times.