MLB Worst of the Night: Kansas City Royals' Luke Hochevar Eaten Up by Tigers

Highlighting a bad performance from the previous night in baseball might seem like a harsh way to start the morning, but look at it this way: If you had a rough night or bad day, here's someone who may have had it worse.

Luke Hochevar had been pitching well recently for the Kansas City Royals. In his past two starts, Hochevar had allowed only three runs and six hits over 11 1/3 innings. 

But on Tuesday night, he ran into some hungry Detroit Tigers.

As MLive.com's James Schmehl explains, the Tigers hit .211 over their past 10 games. That's hardly what was expected from what looked like one of baseball's strongest lineups. Not coincidentally, Detroit lost eight of their previous 10 games coming into Tuesday's game.

The Tigers needed a win and offensive jump start. They found ideal prey in Hochevar.

The first seven Detroit hitters reached base, helped in part by an ill-advised throw to home by Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer. Instead of stepping on first base for the first out of the inning after fielding Prince Fielder's grounder, Hosmer either attempted to prevent the Tigers from scoring another run or thought he could start a double play. 

Whatever Hosmer was thinking, it didn't work as he threw wide of home plate, allowing two runs to score.

Hochevar really could've used that out to stanch the bleeding. But he allowed three straight singles following Hosmer's error, resulting in another two runs and a 5-0 lead for the Tigers.

In a third of an inning, Hochevar had allowed more runs and the same number of hits that he had in his previous two starts combined. 

Maybe Royals manager Ned Yost wanted to see if Hochevar could straighten himself out after that terrible first inning. Both pitcher and manager cited poor execution after the game. Or maybe he decided to let his starter take one for the team.

Somehow, Hochevar lasted three more innings.

Unfortunately, he also allowed four more runs. For the night, Hochevar gave up nine runs on 12 hits and three walks in four innings of work. He took a royal beating. 

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