Loftin, Rave Bury Detroit in KC's 11-7 Sunday Rout
Kansas City turned a four-run second inning into an 11-7 win over Detroit on August 23, with Nick Loftin going 3-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBI to lead the charge. The story of the night was a chaotic fifth inning that swung the game's entire complexion in the span of a few at-bats.
Detroit drew first blood in the first when McGonigle doubled to center to score Torres, making it 1-0. Kansas City answered immediately in the second — Isbel singled to left, scoring Perez and Rave to flip the lead, and then Loftin crushed a 379-foot homer to left center, scoring Tolbert and Isbel to push it to 5-1. Andrew Sears lasted just 4.0 innings for Detroit, allowing 6 hits and 5 earned runs, and the early hole he dug looked like it might be the whole story.
It wasn't. Detroit mounted a genuine comeback in the fifth, chipping away with a Torres groundout that scored Clark, then a Lee single that scored Báez, and finally a McGonigle 392-foot shot to right center that scored Lee and knotted the game at 5-5. That homer swung Kansas City's win probability from 79% all the way down to 56% — a 23-point drop that made this feel like a real contest. But Kansas City didn't flinch. In the very same inning, Pasquantino doubled to center to score Loftin, Perez doubled to left to score Pasquantino, and then Rave launched a 407-foot homer to right that scored Perez and pushed the lead to 9-5. Five runs surrendered, six answered — all in the fifth.
Detroit kept scrapping, getting runs in the sixth and seventh to pull within 9-7, but Kansas City had the answers when it mattered. Isbel singled to center in the eighth to score Rave, and Loftin followed with a single to left that scored Isbel, closing the book at 11-7. Loftin's 4 RBI and Rave's 2-for-3 line with a homer, 2 RBI, and 3 runs scored look like the two most important offensive performances of the night. McGonigle's 3-RBI, 392-foot shot gave Detroit a pulse, but Kansas City's bullpen — Steven Cruz with a clean inning and Nate Pearson allowing just one hit — appears to have been the difference in keeping Detroit from making it a real game late. Daniel Lynch IV gave the Royals 4.1 innings of work, allowing 2 earned runs, which was enough to keep Kansas City in front long enough for the offense to take over.