Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers

Michael Massey didn’t start Sunday’s game, but he knew he’d likely be playing at some point given the way the Royals like to use their bench and the way they match up against the Tigers. So all his normal pregame work was moved to in-game, getting his body and mind ready, taking his swings in the cages and preparing for who he might come in to face. And then he helped end the game with a win. Massey’s go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning gave the Royals a 5-4 victory over the Tigers at Comerica Park, helping Kansas City split the series after losing the first two games here this weekend and coming back to win Saturday’s historic game with Salvador Perez’s record-breaking home run. Ideally, the Royals don’t have to use their bench at all because their starting lineup has produced so well and gotten the team out to a big lead that the bench players can get a true off-day. “But that’s not the way it goes,” manager Matt Quatraro said. And that’s definitely not the way it goes in Detroit against this Tigers team. All seven games here this season at Comerica Park have been decided by one run. It started back in April, when the Royals got swept in three heartbreaking and bad losses. It continued into this weekend’s four-game series. “It’s the expectation,” Quatraro said. “It seems like we’re just evenly matched, and we have been for a couple of years now. Every game seems to go this way. One swing of the bat, usually late in the game, something happens.” Perez’s game-tying homer and Nick Loftin’s go-ahead homer in the seventh and eighth innings Saturday gave the Tigers a taste of their own medicine. Massey continued it Sunday. The Royals’ second baseman pinch-hit in the sixth inning once Tigers lefty starter Framber Valdez had left the game, but Massey flied out to right field.