Bradley Jr. homers, flashes leather in 'amazing' night?

KANSAS CITY -- With his glove and his bat, Jackie Bradley Jr. did all he could to save the Royals in their homestand opener on Monday night. But a two-run opposite-field homer and two sparkling catches by the veteran center fielder weren’t enough.

Thanks to a three-run double by Javier Báez that snapped a 10th-inning deadlock, the Tigers were able to come away with an 8-5 victory over Kansas City, but that didn’t detract from Bradley Jr.’s special evening at Kauffman Stadium.

Bradley gave the Royals two runs of offense and likely saved four with his defense. In the second inning, he robbed Spencer Torkelson of two RBIs by sprinting across right-center field and making the lunging grab. Later, with two on in the seventh, Bradley Jr. raced to the wall and caught up with Zack Short’s blast to preserve a tie game.

“It’s amazing to watch him in center field,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of Bradley Jr. “The jumps he gets, the way he can just track everything down. It’s invaluable. And it was great to see him hit the home run.”

Ah yes, the home run. Bradley Jr. is known for his defense, but it was his offense that enabled the Royals to ultimately get the game to extra innings.

Bradley Jr. started the night in an 0-for-25 slump and grounded into a double play his first time up against Detroit starter Michael Lorenzen. But in the fifth with the Royals down 5-3 and one man on, Bradley Jr. drilled a Lorenzen offering into the left-field bullpen for his first homer as a Royal.

“Felt good,” Bradley Jr. said. “Glad to help the team get some runs on the board. It’s just tough that we didn’t come out with a win today.”

Despite hitting three homers through five innings, the Royals found themselves playing uphill because starter Brady Singer gave up five runs in 3 2/3 innings, the sixth time he has given up five or more this season. Detroit didn’t torch the ball, but got three runs in the first as Singer labored with 36 pitches. After the Royals rallied to tie with back-to-back homers by Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez, Singer had a stabilizing second inning. But then he surrendered a two-run homer to Matt Vierling in the third.

“They were laying off the slider out of the zone and I couldn’t get them to chase much,” Singer said.

Singer threw 87 pitches before he could get through the fourth inning, and that prompted Quatraro to go to the bullpen early.

“Anytime you get close to 40 pitches in an inning, you really have to be efficient after that to get true length,” Quatraro said. “At that point, you are hoping he’ll be efficient to get through four, possibly five, if everything goes perfectly. But that didn’t happen.”

The Kansas City bullpen didn't allow Detroit to score again until the 10th, when Scott Barlow, who pitched a scoreless ninth, went back out for the 10th and gave up the bases-clearing double to Báez.

“[The relievers] were unbelievable,” Singer said. “It’s not easy to pick up all those innings.”

The Royals needed a little more offense after Bradley Jr.’s fifth inning homer, but Detroit’s pitching matched the Kansas City bullpen and then got the big blow at the end.

“We went down early and were able to battle back,” Bradley Jr. said. “I think it shows we’re a resilient team. Hopefully, we can build some momentum off that.”