After the Royals roared back from a four-run deficit to win Monday night, they had to feel good when Whit Merrifield¡¯s three-run blast in the third inning gave them an early lead Tuesday against the Tigers.

But that was all she wrote for Kansas City¡¯s offense.

The Tigers shut down the Royals from there, capitalizing on a four-run third to score a 4-3 victory, evening the series at one game apiece.

? Box score

¡°Kind of the opposite of what happened [Monday],¡± Royals manager Mike Matheny said. ¡°We got down early then and came back, and we kind of saw the opposite of that today. We had a lot of game left, but unfortunately we couldn¡¯t put anything together.¡±

Merrifield, who has now hit in 15 straight games against the Tigers, hit his three-run shot just over the fence in left-center on a 0-1 fastball from Tigers right-hander Rony Garc¨ªa, who was making his Major League debut. Merrifield also had three hits, including a home run, on Monday.

? KC sends LHPs Griffin, Montgomery to IL

Kansas City right-hander Kyle Zimmer got his first Major League start for the Royals and was sharp through his first five hitters, retiring them all.

But a walk to Jeimer Candelario and a double gave the Tigers some life in the second inning. Zimmer caught a break when Austin Romine scorched a 106-mph liner that Merrifield snared behind second base.

¡°My game plan going out there was just go out there and get as many outs as I could,¡± Zimmer said. ¡°I was just trying to be efficient. I was hoping to get a couple more outs in the third ¡­ but it was exciting. Fun to show up at the field and go through a starting routine like the good old days.

¡°I thought I made some good pitches to Candelario. They weren¡¯t called ¡­ but the ball hit to Whit, maybe that was the baseball gods helping me out.¡±

In a scary moment, Zimmer hit JaCoby Jones in the helmet with a fastball to lead off the third. Fortunately, Jones was OK. But Matheny, after a talk with Zimmer on the mound, went to the bullpen, bringing in rookie Tyler Zuber. Matheny said afterward that he was ready to go to the ¡®pen regardless of the hit-by-pitch.

¡°It slipped out and I obviously wasn¡¯t trying to hit anyone,¡± Zimmer said. ¡°You never like to see anyone hit in the head.¡±

Zuber then gave up a pair of decisive two-run homers, one to Jonathan Schoop on a changeup and one to Christin Stewart on a fastball.

¡°I wanted [the changeup] to be a little more inside,¡± Zuber said. ¡°It caught too much of the plate. I felt like it was down. It was an OK pitch. It wasn¡¯t great. And he hit it, put a good swing on it, and it went out.

¡°[Stewart] ambushed it and got a good swing on it.¡±

Meanwhile, Royals shortstop Adalberto Mondesi continued his rough start to the 2020 season, going 0-for-4 as his average dropped to .095. He also booted a routine double-play ball off the bat of Miguel Cabrera.

And in the ninth, Mondesi hit an infield popup that was dropped near the pitcher¡¯s mound. But he got caught too far off the first-base bag and was thrown out while diving back.

¡°Yeah, he¡¯s pressing,¡± Matheny said. ¡°No question. You can see that. It¡¯s in his mind, not wanting to get to two strikes at the plate, and then that gets in his mind. It¡¯s only natural then that you try to be overaggressive and quicker than you need to in the field.

¡°We¡¯re just going to continue to talk to him and get him to continue to breathe a bit. He¡¯s such a natural player. There are things he¡¯s just not happy with. I know he wanted to be on second base with that popup. Things just kind of seem to snowball when you get on a bad run.¡±