KANSAS CITY— Rookie Cheslor Cuthbert homered and had four RBIs, Kendrys Morales and Lorenzo Cain each homered and had three RBIs, and right-hander Yordano Ventura matched a career high with 11 strikeouts as the Royals pummeled the Tigers in a 12-1 win on Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Ventura pitched seven strong innings, giving up just five hits and one run. It was his fifth straight quality start -- he’s posted a 1.13 ERA over that span. And his 11 K’s matched his previous outing.

“I felt like I never really lost confidence,” Ventura said through interpreter Pedro Grifol. “I just got into a bad rut for a little while that I had to overcome, like every player goes through at some point in time in their career. I credit the coaches that work with me and all the people that have helped me throughout the course of this year.”

Added Royals manager Ned Yost, “He was just staying within himself. He’s pitching with that edge that he had all last year. Eleven more punchouts. Didn’t get carried away with any big-pitch innings. Very efficient.”

Randy Wolf started for the Tigers and took the brunt of the onslaught. After lasting seven innings in each of his past two starts, Wolf was rocked for eight hits and eight runs in 3 2/3 innings.

“It was just really bad command today,” Wolf said. “Against any team, let alone against a team that’s hot and that’s really good, you just can’t make those kind of mistakes.”

The Royals’ magic number to clinch the American League Central dropped to 19.