KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Cole Ragans allowed one hit in six innings and Freddy Fermin drove in three runs as the Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 8-3 on Wednesday for a series sweep.
Ragans (4-3) struck out a career-best 12 while holding the Tigers hitless until Riley Greeneās two-out single in the sixth.
āIn the fourth inning I kind of had an idea what was going on,ā Ragans said of the no-hit bid. āWe kept having a good mix and going after guys.ā
āI was looking at the pitch count, not the hits,ā Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. āIn the sixth I started to do the math. When I saw it was no hits, then Iām starting to think how far can we take this.ā
Ragans fanned seven of the first ten batters.
āHis stuff was great right out of the gate,ā Quatraro said. āWe know how good (his changeup) is. Heās getting swing-and-miss on the fastball. They had to honor the changeup, so he got them in between, ringing up a lot of strikeouts early.ā
āHeās got a good heater with some run,ā Greene said. āHe was commanding with his heater and threw his slider off it.ā
The Royals opened the scoring on Ferminās second-inning RBI double off the top of the left-centerfield wall. One out later, Garrett Hampson followed with an RBI double for a 2-0 lead.
āFreddyās been swinging the bat really well,ā Quatraro. āHe put a great swing on that pitch and Hampson had a great at-bat. Iām really happy for those guys.ā
Nelson VelƔzquez hit his fourth home run into the left-field fountains to lead off the fourth.
Kansas City took a 4-0 lead in the fifth on three consecutive singles with Vinnie Pasquantinoās RBI hit scoring Maikel Garcia, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
Tarik Skubal (6-1) threw five innings, allowing four runs on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
āThey did a tremendous job of putting the ball in play when they needed to,ā said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch. āThey used the middle of the field a lot, they put the ball in play, they did some damage. They put a good attack plan on him.ā
The loss snapped Skubalās 14-game unbeaten streak dating to Aug. 29 last year.
āThey had some good at-bats and fouled off some good pitches,ā Skubal said. āToo many pitchersā counts led to 3-2 counts and thatās a credit to their hitters. Iāve got to be better at finishing those at-bats.ā
Andy IbƔƱez cut the deficit to 4-2 with a two-out, two-run double in the seventh.
Bobby Witt Jr. and Fermin delivered two-run hits in the bottom half of the frame, extending the lead to 8-2.
The Royals won their first series against the Tigers since September 2022. It was Kansas Cityās first sweep of Detroit since July 2021.
The Royals have won six straight.
āThe boys are playing some ball and we are really enjoying this,ā Fermin said.
Colt Keith recorded seven of the Tigersā 19 hits in the series.
Detroit has lost four straight.
UP NEXT
Tigers RHP Jack Flaherty (1-3, 3.79 ERA) opposes Blue Jays (undecided) on Thursday in Detroit.
Royals RHP Seth Lugo (7-1, 1.79) opposes Rays (undecided) on Friday in Tampa.
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