Kansas
Detroit Tigers inch closer to playoffs with epic 7-6 comeback win vs. Kansas City Royals
How Kansas City Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. became contender for AL MVP
Jaylon Thompson, Royals beat writer for The Kansas City Star, joins our Tigers podcast “Days of Roar” to talk the impressive play of shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.
The Detroit Tigers fell behind by four runs on a grand slam by Kansas City Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr. in the third inning, but they chipped away at the deficit in the middle innings.
The never-quit approach from the Tigers resulted in one run in the fourth, three runs in the fifth and three runs in the sixth. Along the way, the Tigers received key hits from Colt Keith, Wenceel Pérez and Matt Vierling, among others.
“I don’t think anybody thought we were out of it,” Keith said.
The Tigers beat the Royals, 7-6, in Monday’s opener of a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium.
With the win, the Tigers (78-73) trail the Minnesota Twins by 1½ games for the third and final spot in the American League wild card, with 11 games remaining. The Twins blew a three-run lead in a 4-3 loss to the Cleveland Guardians in the first of four games in their series.
The Tigers have a 23-10 record in their last 33 games.
“Huge win,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “It was an incredible win because of how we had to do it. … Incredible win and great performance by so many of our guys.”
To get to the finish line, the Tigers had to keep the Royals from scoring in the final four innings after grabbing a 7-6 lead in the sixth inning. They were successful in doing so, thanks to strong performances from relievers Brenan Hanifee, Will Vest, Beau Brieske and Jason Foley.
In the seventh, Vest stranded runners on the corners when he recorded flyouts against both Witt and Salvador Perez. In the eighth, Brieske stranded runners on first and second when he struck out MJ Melendez and induced an inning-ending double play against Maikel Garcia.
Brieske struck out Melendez with a 99.5 mph fastball.
“A couple different times they responded to us scoring by getting guys on base,” Hinch said. “It’s a ton of pressure. They run a lot. They have a lot of athleticism. There’s a reason why these guys have a ton of wins, and why they’re in the thick of things. They play their 27 outs, too.”
Foley took over for the ninth inning.
He retired pinch-hitter Robbie Grossman, Kyle Isbel and Tommy Pham in order for his 24th save in 27 chances.
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Reese Olson returns
Right-hander Reese Olson returned from a near two-month absence on the injured list. The 25-year-old hadn’t pitched for the Tigers since July 20 because of a right shoulder strain.
He retired six batters in a row, a product of his nasty slider, before walking Adam Frazier to open the third inning.
“I felt fine,” Olson said. “That’s a win, I guess. The first two innings, I felt about as good as I could. In the third inning, I walked a guy, ground ball finds a hole, the bunt, and then I made one bad pitch. It’s four runs, but the guys picked me up.”
The Royals loaded the bases in the third, thanks to Frazier’s walk, Yuli Gurriel’s single that got past shortstop Trey Sweeney, and Isbel’s perfect bunt single.
Witt took advantage by crushing Olson’s hanging curveball for a grand slam — putting the Royals ahead, 4-0 — with one out in the third inning. After that, Perez slapped a single to right field that chased Olson from his start.
Olson allowed four runs on four hits and one walk with three strikeouts across 2⅓ innings, throwing 50 pitches. He generated five whiffs on 18 swings, but all five whiffs were from sliders.
Rally Tigers
The Tigers stranded the bases loaded in the third inning, when Keith grounded out, but the Tigers didn’t miss later opportunities to score against right-hander Seth Lugo.
Sweeney delivered a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, cutting the Tigers’ deficit to 4-1. The Royals answered with a run against left-handed reliever Sean Guenther in the bottom of the fourth.
In the fifth inning, Vierling hit an RBI single and Keith crushed a two-run home run, making it a 5-4 deficit.
Keith pulled Lugo’s first-pitch changeup for a two-run home run to right-center field. It was his 13th homer in 138 games but his first homer since Aug. 24 (and his second homer since July 27).
“I thought he was going to throw a first-pitch fastball,” Keith said, “and I wanted to hit it to center and get the barrel out on it. He ended up throwing a changeup, left it in the zone, and I just tried to stay through it as best I could. I ended up back-spinning it, so that got it out of the park.”
Lugo allowed four runs on eight hits and two walks with four strikeouts across 4⅔ innings, throwing 96 pitches. He entered Monday’s game with a 2.94 ERA but departed with a 3.05 ERA following his 31st start.
The Tigers worked Lugo for 64 pitches in the first three innings, including 24 pitches in both the first and third.
“It’s nothing overpowering,” Spencer Torkelson said. “It’s not like it’s 98 (mph) where you don’t see it. It’s really an at-bat where you get yourself out early if you let him. You know he’s not going to give in. It’s being selective, but not too selective. It’s like a semi-selective aggressive approach.”
Again, the Royals responded with another run — taking a 6-4 lead — on Isbel’s triple and Witt’s infield single against right-handed reliever Brenan Hanifee in the bottom of the fifth.
The Tigers, though, wouldn’t go away.
Back-to-back singles from Andy Ibáñez and Jake Rogers against left-handed reliever Sam Long put runners on the corners in the sixth inning, with Pérez driving them in with a pinch-hit, two-run double into the left-field corner. After that, Vierling shot an RBI single into right field, facing right-handed reliever John Schreiber.
The three-run sixth put the Tigers ahead, 7-6.
“He’s a guy that was hitting in the middle of our order, gets hurt (with an oblique strain), and when he comes back, everything on our team has changed, and he didn’t change,” Hinch said of Pérez. “He hasn’t missed a beat. We hurried him back to get him in the mix because having a switch-hitter, even if it was on the bench, is going to be very valuable to make decisions during the game.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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The Detroit Tigers were beaten by the Kansas City Royals 5-1 on Saturday night.
Michael Wacha pitched seven scoreless innings, Bobby Witt Jr. hit an inside-the-park home run on a grounder and Michael Massey had a three-run homer for the Royals, who will go for the series sweep on Sunday night.
Witt hit the ball down the right-field line in the first inning that bounced off the wall and eluded right fielder Kerry Carpenter. Witt motored around the bases and beat the relay throw to the plate for a two-run homer.
It was the Royals’ first inside-the-park home run since Witt did it in August 2023.
Carpenter left the game later with left shoulder soreness.
Wacha (4-2) gave up two hits, walked two and struck out six. It was his longest scoreless outing since throwing eight scoreless innings against the Chicago White Sox on April 11.
Burch Smith (0-2) took the loss. He retired only one of the four batters he faced, allowing two runs on three hits in one-third of an inning.
Massey’s homer in the fourth inning came with runners on first and third with two outs. He lined the ball over the right-center field fence for his third homer of the season.
Wacha had at least one strikeout in each of his first four innings. The Tigers loaded the bases in the fifth on a double, a walk and a hit batter, but Wacha got Matt Vierling to ground out to end the inning.
The Tigers scored in the eighth on a two-out double by Riley Greene.
Up next
The teams conclude the three-game series Sunday. The Tigers have not announced a starter, though manager AJ Hinch said it will be a bullpen game. Kansas City will send LHP Noah Cameron (2-2, 5.40 ERA) to the mound.
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Chiefs are exploring long-term solutions at tight end beyond Travis Kelce’s expected 2026 retirement.
- One potential move involves targeting a veteran player from a team transitioning to a new starter at the position.
- The deal’s structure hinges on future playoff performance, creating a high-stakes incentive for both franchises.
While the 2026 draft is just in the books, it’s never too early to start thinking about the 2027 season — and if there’s one team that’s already looking that far ahead, it’s the Kansas City Chiefs.
Star tight end Travis Kelce is almost certainly retiring after the 2026 campaign despite an inflated new deal, and looking at the Chiefs’ depth chart, backup Noah Gray is not starting-caliber material. You could argue the team can scout for star talent in next year’s draft, but that would come with significant risk and opportunity cost if a prospect isn’t immediately NFL-ready.
Instead, there’s a potential solution general manager Brett Veach can utilize by acquiring an excess asset from another team.
This Chiefs-Bears trade solves Kansas City’s Travis Kelce problem
The Chicago Bears are clearly moving forward with 2025 first-round pick Colston Loveland as their TE1, in addition to taking blocking specialist Sam Roush out of Stanford in this year’s draft. All of which leaves backup — and previous starter — Cole Kmet on the outside looking in. The 27-year-old still has a lot of high-quality football left to play, and he’d certainly sign off on the opportunity to get starting snaps for a team with a championship window still wide open.
The problem is going to be convincing Chicago to pick up the phone in the first place. Kmet signed a restructured deal in April which disincentivizes the Bears from moving him until next year. A pre-June 1 deal would cost Chicago $4.1 million against the salary cap, while any swap after that date only saves the team $1.4 million.
So, with the present season not really an option, these two teams would need to be negotiating with next year in mind as Kmet is projected to cost the Bears $15.4 million against the cap in 2027. That’s the incentive Chicago needs to move him.
At the moment, Kmet is worth a conditional 2027 fifth-round pick — which may sound cheap, but the devil is in the details. Chicago will certainly dictate that an escalator be attached to the pick: For example, if Kansas City misses the playoffs in 2027, then it remains a fifth-rounder but may be deferred until 2028. If they qualify for the postseason then it could stay in 2027. A championship could push it up a round or two (though that would be a tough sell for the Chiefs).
Kmet has topped 500 receiving yards in three of his six seasons in Chicago, so there’s a good reason for Kansas City to inquire about his availability. The Bears, in turn, used a third-round pick to select Stanford’s Sam Roush – signaling they too are preparing for Kmet’s eventual departure.
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Stormont Vail Healthcare is in a legal battle with the state government, alleging the Medicaid program was wrong to refuse payment for the hospitalization of a pregnant patient with complications.
At issue is a disagreement between the Topeka hospital and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment over whether inpatient health care services were medically necessary for the Medicaid patient’s last two weeks of pregnancy.
The Kansas Court of Appeals did not resolve that dispute, but it did side with Stormont Vail in a May 8 decision. The unanimous three-judge panel reversed a decision by Shawnee County District Court Judge Thomas Luedke and vacated an order from KDHE’s State Appeals Committee. The matter now goes back to the appeals committee for reconsideration.
The appellate panel was comprised of Judges Jacy Hurst, Thomas Malone and Stephen Hill, which heard oral arguments on Aug. 5. Hurst wrote the court’s opinion.
The lawsuit stems from a 2018 case of a pregnant patient, who is not named in appellate court documents. She was 28 years old at the time and had an intellectual disability among other complications, including rapid weight loss caused by hyperemesis gravidarum.
The woman was originally admitted at Newman Regional Health in Emporia before she was transferred to Stormont Vail. Part of the hospitalization during her third trimester was covered.
But the final two weeks were not because Sunflower Health Plan, one of the managed care organizations in the state’s privatized Medicaid program known as KanCare, refused to reimburse for the patient’s continued hospitalization through the day the child was born via cesarean section.
“We are here because the Kansas Medicaid program has wrongfully refused to pay for some of an inpatient hospitalization while a Medicaid beneficiary was at Stormont Vail,” said Amanda Wilwert, an attorney for the hospital, during oral arguments. “Stormont believes the inpatient care was medically necessary as defined by the Kansas Medicaid regulations.”
Court records and oral arguments show the state expected Stormont Vail to look into having a home health agency care for the patient in Emporia instead of continued hospitalization — even though home health generally does not take care of pregnant patients and her doctors believed the expectant mother was not stable enough to discharge.
“The way it’s supposed to work,” said Darren Sharp, an attorney representing KDHE, “is the managed care organization, in this case Sunflower Health, on behalf of KDHE reviews the medical records, asks about the appropriate level of care and whether there’s any other interventions that would be more cost effective or appropriate depending on the level of or depending on the patient’s records and the patient’s status.”
Sharp argued medical records showed the patients was getting better because of total parenteral nutrition, or TPN.
“This is when a tube, a PICC, is inserted and your minerals and your electrolytes and all of your nutrition is then intravenously provided,” Sharp said.
He said the treatment “was eliminating her vomiting, her diarrhea, she had no fever, her glucose levels were stabilized.”
In their ruling, the judges indicated the KDHE appeals committee primarily cared about the cost saving of using home health versus hospitalization while disregarding the treating physician for insufficient reasons and ignoring evidence on potential benefits or harms to the patient.
But the judges declined to resolve the dispute. Rather, unless the decision is appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court, the matter goes back to the KDHE administrative process.
There, the agency’s appeals committee must reconsider the case consistent with the Court of Appeal’s ruling. The published decision sets new precedent interpreting state laws and regulations on the Medicaid program.
“While this court provides no opinion on whether the disputed inpatient healthcare services met the definition of medical necessity,” Hurst wrote, “the record shows that some of the (appeals committee’s) factual findings were not supported by the record as a whole and that the (appeals committee) inaccurately applied the law when it failed to consider (the patient’s) individual characteristics and assess the harms and benefits of the healthcare intervention.
“In making a medical necessity determination, the reviewing agency must make an individualized determination based on the record as a whole.”
Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.
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