New arrival leads Tigers to victory with first MLB home run

Gage Workman hit his first major league home run in his first at-bat as a Detroit Tiger, lifting the Tigers to a 6-3 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday night at Kauffman Stadium.

The victory staved off a sweep and snapped the Detroit’s five-game losing streak.

The Tigers (19-22) and Royals (19-22) are now tied for third place in the American League Central, a division in which no team is above .500.

Workman’s contract was selected from Triple-A Toledo prior to the game to replace injured outfielder Kerry Carpenter. He entered in the sixth inning as a pinch-hitter in a 3-3 game and drove a slider from reliever Nick Mears just inside the right-field foul pole for a two-run homer.

Workman, whose middle name is “Tater,” had not hit a tater in 17 career MLB plate appearances in 2024 with the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox.

That lead was enough for a bullpen game ably handled by six Tigers pitchers. Enmanuel De Jesus pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win. Kenley Jansen, pitching for just the second time in 11 days, worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his seventh save.

Detroit built a 3-0 lead in the second inning against Royals left-hander Noah Cameron. Hao-Yu Lee delivered an RBI triple — the first of his career — and Matt Vierling followed with a two-run double. All three runs scored with two outs. The inning began with Riley Greene’s leadoff single, extending his on-base streak to a career-high 21 games.

Greene reached base in four of his five plate appearances, adding a double and two walks.

BOX SCORE

Up next: The Tigers are off on Monday before opening a three-game series in New York against the Mets on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m.

Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty (0-3, 5.56 ERA) will face Mets right-hander Freddy Peralta (2-3, 3.12).

Flaherty struck out 10 batters in his last start on May 6 against the Boston Red Sox.

It was his first double-digit strikeout game since Aug. 9, 2024, with the Dodgers and first with the Tigers since he struck out a career-high 14 Cardinals on April 30, 2024.

Peralta was traded to the Mets in January after the best season of his career in 2025 with the Milwaukee Brewers. He went 17-6 with a 2.76 ERA over 33 starts last season and was fifth in NL Cy Young balloting.

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