Tigers Show They're Still Class of AL Central in 10-1 Statement Win over Royals

The Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals kicked off one of the season’s biggest series Friday, as the three games between the playoff contenders could ultimately determine which team wins the American League Central.

"These are must-win games. It's a must-win series," said starter Justin Verlander prior to the game, via Jason Beck of MLB.com. "It's obviously the biggest series of the year. This is a team that's right there, and if we don't take care of business, can beat us."

Suffice it to say the Tigers took care of business Friday, as they pounded out 19 hits and received a strong outing from Verlander in an impressive 10-1 rout of the Royals in front of a sellout crowd at Kauffman Stadium.

Despite dropping back-to-back games against the Minnesota Twins, the Tigers still held a half-game lead over the Royals entering the series opener after winning seven of their last 10.

The club’s recent success has been fueled by a red-hot offense that currently leads the AL in batting average (.318), on-base percentage (.365) and slugging (.485) for September, while also ranking high in home runs (second; 22) and runs scored (second; 95).

On Friday, each of the team’s starters collected at least one hit while either driving in or scoring a run, and there were seven players with multiple hits in the contest.

The win was Detroit’s 12th in 17 games against the Royals this season, and, more importantly, it extended their division lead to 1.5 games.

The Tigers came out of the gate swinging against Kansas City starter Jason Vargas, which wasn’t surprising considering they were collectively batting .293/.343/.505 with five home runs in four starts against the left-hander heading into the game.

Ian Kinsler led off the game with single back up the middle and then came around to score on a double by Miguel Cabrera, giving the Tigers an early 1-0 lead. Cleanup hitter Victor Martinez followed with a run-scoring single, plating Cabrera from second base, and later scored his team’s third run of the inning on a two-out single by shortstop Eugenio Suarez.

Detroit added runs in the second and fourth innings courtesy of doubles by Torii Hunter and Kinsler, respectively, as the latter forced the Royals to turn to their bullpen earlier than expected.

However, a fresh arm couldn’t hold the Tigers’ potent offense at bay.

They opened the fifth inning with four consecutive hits against Casey Coleman, highlighted by run-scoring singles by third baseman Nick Castellanos and Suarez.

After failing to record an out, the Royals lifted Coleman in favor of Louis Coleman (no relation). The right-hander would eventually get out of the inning, but not before allowing three more runs, including a two-run home run to Kinsler (his 15th of the season).

But the Tigers’ offensive outburst wasn’t the only big story to come out of Friday’s game.

In what might have been his most important start of the season, right-hander Justin Verlander scattered seven hits and struck out four over 7.1 innings. The lone run he yielded in the outing scored after he was out of the game, as reliever Evan Reed allowed a sacrifice fly to Jayson Nix that plated Johnny Giavotella, who had led off the inning with a double.

MLB.com’s Richard Justice broke down what made Verlander successful Friday:

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For a guy who began the day with a 4.81 ERA, this was a huge step in the right direction. Verlander is doing it differently than he once did. Instead of calling upon a 100-mph fastball to get him through tough spots, he has to rely on movement, location and smarts. Verlander opened the bottom of the first inning by throwing Royals leadoff man Alcides Escobar four straight changeups.

Right there, Verlander sent a message that he was capable of challenging hitters in a different way. He was terrific at this, mixing curves and changeups with a fastball that was typically around 91 mph.

"

The outing marked the third time this season Verlander has held an opponent to fewer than two earned runs, and it’s the second time he’s accomplished the feat in his last five starts.

In his pregame press conference, via USA Today's John Lowe, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus asserted that he believed Verlander would pitch well against the Royals, noting that the former AL Cy Young Award winner "understands the enormity of the game."

Verlander discussed that notion following the game, per Jason Beck of MLB.com on Twitter, "It’s been like that a few years here. We seem to play our best baseball when we need to and this is obviously a need-to moment."

However, Ausmus’ statement doesn’t apply only to Verlander; whether it be Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, Ian Kinsler, Torii Hunter, Max Scherzer or Joe Nathan, the Tigers roster is loaded with veteran players who have postseason experience, guys who can be counted on to perform with the season on the line.

The Tigers have come together in September after seeing their division lead slip away over the last month, showing no signs of slowing down with a little more than a week left in the regular season.

Yet, the race for the AL Central crown is anything but over.

With two games remaining against Kansas City in the series and James Shields set to toe the slab Saturday afternoon, the Tigers will need to continue playing well-rounded, team baseball to capture a fourth consecutive division title.

However, after their impressive performance in Friday’s series opener and overall strong play as of late, the team appears poised to pull away from the Royals over the final nine games.