DETROIT (AP) — Austin Jackson had four hits and Rick Porcello pitched eight strong innings to lead the Detroit Tigers past the Kansas City Royals 9-3 on Tuesday night.
The Tigers scored five runs in the first and won for only the third time in 11 games. Porcello (2-2) took advantage of the offensive support to snap out of his slump, allowing three runs and seven hits. In his previous two starts, the right-hander was 0-2 with a 15.26 ERA.
Luke Hochevar (2-2) took the loss for Kansas City, yielding nine runs on 12 hits and three walks in four innings. Hochevar had given up only three runs over 11 1-3 innings in his last two starts.
The teams were rained out Monday night, Kansas City’s second rainout in three days. The Royals have lost two straight following a three-game winning streak that came on the heels of a 12-game skid.
After the Royals went down in order in the first, the Tigers put their first seven batters on base and needed just 17 pitches to do it. After two singles and Miguel Cabrera’s double made it 1-0, Eric Hosmer’s wild throw from first base to the plate allowed two more runs to score.
The next three Tigers singled, increasing the margin to 5-0, before Ramon Santiago grounded into a double play and Don Kelly popped out to end the inning.
Detroit added three more runs in the third on an RBI single by Kelly and Jackson’s two-run double before Jhonny Peralta made it 9-0 with a run-scoring single in the fourth.
Kansas City got on the board with an RBI groundout by Humberto Quintero in the fifth, and Alex Gordon made it 9-2 with a double in the sixth. Jarrod Dyson led off the eighth with a stand-up triple and scored on Gordon’s groundout.
The game took a twist when Jeff Francoeur hit a long fly that bounced off the top of the fence in left-center. Jackson reached over the wall and caught the ball before it landed in the Kansas City bullpen, saving a home run. Second base umpire Tim McClelland mistakenly called Francoeur out, but after a conference among the umpires, Francoeur was credited with a double.

NOTES: Porcello struck out three and walked none. ... Andy Dirks, filling in for suspended Tigers DH Delmon Young, left in the fourth inning after aggravating his strained left hamstring. Brad Eldred replaced him, marking his first career pinch-running appearance. ... Tigers manager Jim Leyland said he does not plan to start Young when he returns Friday from a seven-day suspension, wanting to give him a day to “run around and get loose.” ... Hosmer went 0 for 4, extending his hitless streak to 19 at-bats.