ROYALS vs. TIGERS: Official Full Game Highlights (July 23) | 2026 MLB Season

Downtown Detroit and an absolutely gorgeous night for baseball. The Royals were swept here back in April, but they come to town fresh off of sweeping the Giants. And, of course, Royals fans are here, perhaps with a chance to see history. Salvador Perez has a chance to break the home run record in Royals history. Tough to find a starting pitcher on a better burner in Major League Baseball right now than Troy Melton. We've been excited to see this guy pitch every outing this year and last year. The stuff's unbelievable. The demeanor is on point right now. Just keep riding the wave, Troy. Melton delivers. The pitch is high. That's ball four. So Carter Jensen opens the game with a walk. So third in ERA, third in lowest opponent's batting average, third in lowest opponent's OPS. Lane Thomas has added a lot to this offense. Pop out to McGonigal for the first out here in the first inning. Here's Vinny Pasquantino over the outer half, a called strike, and it's 0-1. Pasquantino shoots it over key, the third down in the left field, a base hit. Jensen stops at second. Pasquantino's on at first, and here comes Salvador Perez. He did get one more at bat yesterday after his record-tying home run. He struck out swinging. This is his second chance at claiming franchise history. Here's the tenth pitch of this at bat, and it is outside. So we're all on the edge of our seats for home run number 318, and Salve takes a walk. And the Royals have loaded the bases here in the first. That is a swing and a miss. Strike three. Massey is down on the changeup from Melton to Gon. Just great pitching. He was going up with the heater, up with the heater. He throws that little split down, and that's one of those pitches that it looks like it's going to be middle, and Massey just fires on it, and nobody's home. Two outs. It brings up Isaac Collins. He's 44. He went around as well. Strike three, and they'll throw home to get the out. That's Chansey. Troy's there. Hopscotch heading over. I don't think Dylan Diggler knew that he called him out. I think he thought the play had to be at home. I think that's right. Regardless, regardless, it's a force at home, and Troy Melton just pitched out of an absolute jam. Randy Dobnak, former Tiger AAA pitcher. His last two starts, he's thrown 191 pitches for Kansas City. Two pitches. One out here in the first. Labor Torres at the plate. First pitch here. Locked it to right. Base hit. Labor Torres. We've seen that before. Got the perfect inside-out swing against the sinker here from Labor. Knows how to get on base, this guy. Velasquez covers second for an out. Relay to first is late. Slow developing chance to turn two, so the Royals get the lead out. Riley Green into right field. That's a base hit off a sinker. Keith to third. He's in there. That was a leaky fastball. Yeah. He took a little off that little sinker. Yeah. Good job by Riley. The way you get to Dobnick is you've got to wait him out. He doesn't have big stuff. He's going to pick at the edges and, again, rely on you to get yourself out. And on the ground, Torres shortstop. Velasquez scoops it up, throws the short way to second. Massey covers. In time to force out Green. The inning is over. Josh Rojas leads off the top of the second. Rojas lines it down the first baseline. A fair ball, skittering into the right field corner. Rojas rounds for his base. He sprints to second, and he stops there with a leadoff double. Josh Rojas has a four-game hitting streak, and he's now hit safely in each of his last six starts. Runner in scoring position with nobody out to begin the top of the second. Caught by Torkelson, looked to second, and McGonigal wasn't there. Good base run by Andrew Velasquez, or by Rojas. He got back to second base. Runner on second, two outs now for Carter Jensen at the top of the lineup. 2-1. Ground ball. Backhanded by Tork, falls down from his knee, goes to Troy Melton, covering first. We've seen Tork do that a few times. Down to the ground, and he doesn't have time to get up on a knee. As he's falling back to the ground, he gets up high enough to make a strong throw. One pitch, one out for Dobnack. Swung on and missed. Strike three. Great sweeper from Randy Dobnack. He's got his first strikeout tonight, and there's two down in the bottom of the second. Brings up Zach McKinstry. Is that 0-2? It's punched into right center. That's a knock. Z-Mac is on. James Altman will back. Ooh. Close at first, and out. Believe it. Dobnack picks off McKinstry to end the inning. Woo! Quick feet. Love that. And that ends the bottom of the second inning. Hold key. Makes the backhanded grab out in shallow left. That'll bring up the captain. 3-0-2. Check swing. Did he go? Yes, he did. Salvador Perez strikes out. A 1-2-3 third. Michael Massey leads off the fourth. Struck out on three pitches in the first inning in a huge spot. Bases loaded. One out. Troy Melton recalibrated. Sliders swinging a miss. Oh, he's sharpening everything up, as Bobby pointed out. He was hanging some cutters and sliders early. That's a perfect pitch. And a breaking ball's high. Ball four. So Troy Melton, who came in with a pretty good strikeout-to-walk ratio, 55 innings, 50 strikeouts, only 15 walks. Tonight, four strikeouts and three walks now. And that'll bring up Rojas with one on and one out. And Zach McKinstry, who hasn't played a lot of left this year, is underneath to make the catch. So a runner at first. Two down. The batter will be Nick Loftin. 0-2. Swing and a miss. Slider bounced away. Nick Loftin could not find that pitch. It was buried in the dirt. Strikeout number five for Melton ends the fourth. Gold key. Grounded out his first time up. Reaching base on a fielder's choice. Nice play, Massey. Does he have time? Yes. And some help with Vinny with a stretch. Man, oh man, was that sweet. How about good feet? He got to his feet quickly. And the transfer from glove to hand, that goes with good hands. Beautiful. That's a highlight reel play. Ouch. Pass squash with a nice stretch. The Royals have had chances against Troy Melton in this game. The Royals had the bases loaded with only one out in the first inning. The Royals got a leadoff double from Josh Rojas in the second. And since then, the Royals only have one base runner. That was an Isaac Collins walk. That's a big play for Cole Teeth to keep that speed off the bases. Velasquez is retired to start at the inning. Back to the top. And Carter Jensen. Hit into right center field, into that corner. Carpenter is going to play it deep off the wall. And Carter Jensen has another double. Too bad. Man, that ball was close to going out. Look at that slider right over the middle of the plate. Cary, oh man, that just missed by a foot. Carpenter played it well. He turned his back and he said, I can't catch it. I'm going to play it off the wall. But he played that carom perfectly. That all set up in a trip. That's ball four. But it is the fourth walk for Troy tonight. And that brings up Salvador Perez. His third plate appearance tonight. He drew a 10-pitch walk in the first inning. He struck out swinging on three pitches in the third inning. Drum ball to third. Cole Teeth fields and flips to Torkelson at first. Nice job. Good mound visit by Dylan Dingler. Salvador Perez grounds out to end the fifth inning. And once again, Troy Melton works out of a jam. He strands two. And a backdoor sinker that appeared to be outside. That's twice now in at-bats for Torkelson against Dobnack that he has not challenged a pitch that was outside. Line drive. Base hit. A couple of skips through the infield on the right side. Second time, Zach McKinstry singled in a two-strike count. Top of the lineup and Kevin McGonigal. Altman is running. Jensen's throw is right on the money. He was safe. Well, he's thinking, I got the best jump I've ever gotten in my career. That ball was right on the money, honey, and perfectly located. I mean, that's a perfect throw. They're going to challenge anyway. Hey, we'll see. But, man, I like it. Just happy to show the throw again. Laskens is already in the dugout. He applied the tag, so he's pretty convinced. So, Massey jumps on a first-pitch fastball, and he's on base for the first time tonight. So, Massey's on now for Isaac Collins. Switch hitter bats left-handed. He's struck out and drawn a walk tonight. Goal! Right field. Deep to right. Isaac Collins gives the Royals a 2-0 lead. That's what they're looking for. Forget the lousy singles. You're not going to put a whole lot together against this young man right here, Troy Melton. Take him deep. Collins, what a hit. Go ahead. That's a nice stroke. That was swung on gone. Sixth homer of the year. Jacob Waguspak is the third pitcher of the night for the Tigers, their second right-handed pitcher. Right-hander Jacob Waguspak against Salvador Perez. The 1-2. Swing and a pop-up. Shallow right field. Kerry Carpenter comes in, arms out, and he will make the catch for the third out of the seventh inning. Line drive. Base hit down the right field line over Pasquantino's glove. Dingler over to third. Cutter in on the hands. Didn't hit it hard, but he muscled it over the head of Pasquantino. Tigers have runners at the corners. Nobody out in the seventh inning. It's two outs. Runners at the corners. That will leave it up to James Altman. You figured with the left-handers all in order against Shriver, who just has not gotten lefties out at a consistent clip really ever. Yeah. It's your chance to put something up. 2-2. Altman. High fly ball. Right field. Locked and back. Track. Lips the night. 3-2 Tigers. Hops away from Dingler. Rolls into the left-handed batter's box. And Tolbert takes third. Now he's 90 feet away from tying the game. And Josh Rojas steps to the plate. Rojas lines it into right center field. That's a base hit. Tolbert's in to tie the game. It's Josh Rojas who comes through in the late innings tonight. A game-tying RBI single. And we're locked at three in the top of the eighth inning. He goes down to second base. Potential go-ahead run at second with two outs. I'll leave it up to Dillon Dingler. Think about how much expanse of green grass is out there in center field and left center and right center. All it takes is for that little pellet to drop anywhere out there. Best two-strike hitters in baseball. Gives the Tigers the lead right back. Four-three Tigers in the eighth. Bruce Summers, he is on. It's his first career save opportunity. And the young left-hander will face Jensen first. He went right at him, and he got him right in there. Strike three. Up and away. Ball four. Thomas draws a walk. He's the potential tying run. Brings up Vinny Pasquantino. It's a ground ball, base hit into right field. Thomas will stop at second base. And that'll be the end of the day for Drew Summers. So, Kyle Finnegan has been the guy to leave inherited runners this year. 92% across Major League Baseball. It's number one tied with Tim Hill, the left-handed specialist for the Yankees. The potential tying run is at second base. The potential go-ahead run is at first base. Potential history is in the batter's box. Salvador Perez is 0-3 with a walk tonight. He entered tonight with 317 career home runs. Tied with George Brett for the most in franchise history. Slow ground ball, first base. Torkelson goes to second to get one. The passer goes. And in slow motion, the Tigers have a four. Well, you could have asked me, what are the 20 different ways this ball game might end? It wouldn't have been a squiver to Tork who ended up being around second base. And for a team whose defense really let them down in May, it is nice to see that be the way they salt away a huge victory.