Mike Minor held Detroit hitless until the fifth inning, and Andrew Benintendi and Ryan O’Hearn homered off Casey Mize to lift the Kansas City Royals to a 6-2 victory over the Tigers on Friday night.
Minor (2-1) allowed two runs and four hits in 5 2/3 innings with two walks and nine strikeouts.
Benintendi opened the scoring for the AL Central-leading Royals with a solo homer in the second. Benintendi then left his feet to make a spectacular diving catch in left-center field to retire Wilson Ramos in the bottom of the inning.
Kansas City added four runs in the fifth. Nicky Lopez hit an RBI groundout, Whit Merrifield hit a run-scoring single and Jorge Soler doubled home two runs.
RHP Tyler Zuber was hit on the throwing arm by a comebacker in the sixth, but Mike Matheny said X-rays were negative.
Detroit sends Matthew Boyd (2-1) to the mound Saturday to face Kansas City’s Brady Singer (0-2) Saturday at 12:10.
The first place Royals lead second place Chicago by a game and a half, third place Cleveland is three games out.