The Royals season opened with an 11-2 loss to the Tigers Monday night. Dmitri Young hit three home runs and drove in five to lead the way for Detroit. Young got the Tigers on the board in the second with a solo shot off Kansas City starter Jose Lima. Later in the inning Brandon Inge went deep with a two-run homer to make it 3-0 Detroit. The rough day didn’t end there for Lima. He served up a two-run shot to Young with two outs in the third inning to give The Tigers a 5-0 bulge.
Young hit another two-run home run in the eighth for the final two tallies of the game. Lima was yanked after the third and was charged with five runs off six hits. Young is 10-of-25 lifetime against Lima. He became just the third players in Major League Baseball history to hit three home runs on opening day. George Bell did it for Toronto in 1988 and Tuffy Rhodes accomplished the feat in 1994.
Kansas City’s only two runs were the result of David DeJesus’ RBI single in the fifth inning to score John Buck and Calvin Pickering’s solo home run in the top of the eighth inning.
Jeremy Bonderman lasted seven innings for the Tigers and allowed one run and stuck out seven Royals.
The Royals and Tigers are off Tuesday and will meet again Wednesday, as Runelvys Hernandez takes on Mike Maroth at 1:05 PM.
