It took 116 pitches for Johnny Cueto to dismantle the Detroit Tigers and lead the Kansas City Royals to a 4-0 victory behind his four-hit complete game shutout. The ace struck out eight and did not walk a hitter all night. 

The only extra base hit for Detroit came off the bat of J.D. Martinez in the early stages, but nothing came of the solid double. 

Anthony Gose and Martinez delivered one hit each. Meanwhile, Jefry Marte clocked in two hits during the game. Cueto got Alex Avila and Ian Kinsler to strikeout twice, proving his dominance. 

The Tigers sent left-hander Matt Boyd to the slab. He earned his first Detroit win in his debut against the Royals a week ago. Boyd defeated Cueto in that outing by one run. 

The 24-year-old gave up three runs in the first inning, but then became dominant. Overall, Boyd gave up three runs on nine hits and one walk over 5.1 innings pitched. 

Boyd took the loss and is 1-3 with a 7.11 ERA, but he has been dominant with Detroit. Those numbers are primarily from his time with the Toronto Blue Jays. During his three games in Toronto, the youngster posted a 1-2 record with a 7.90 ERA.

The lefty was acquired from Toronto on July 30th in the deal that sent David Price to Toronto. Through two starts in the Old English D, he owns a 1-1 record with a 2.98 ERA. 

In the first inning, the Royals struck with Lorenzo Cain and Kendrys Morales. Cain, an outfielder, doubled to center which plated two runs. Morales singled to score Cain just a few batters later. 

The Royals were kept very quiet until the seventh inning against Buck Famer

Farmer has been used as a spot starter this season but has struggled. He gave up a run to Jarrod Dyson on a single from Eric Hosmer. Farmer now owns an 8.18 ERA. 

In hopes of allowing no more runs, Detroit put in Kyle Ryan, who pitched a scoreless 1.1 innings to end the game. 

The Royals starter, Cueto, did a great job of getting ahead in the count. He got first-pitch strikes on 22-of-31 batters faced on Monday night. 

"The crowd really gave me an extra boost," Cueto said post game with the use of an interpreter. "This is the most I've felt from a crowd; the intensity is by far the most."

Kauffman Stadium was electric all night, and when Cueto came out for the ninth inning all 36,000 plus rose and cheered into the final out of the game.

"It was pretty fun to see, his first game as a Royal at the K and hear the crowd out there in the ninth inning," said Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer. "It was a fun atmosphere tonight, a different feel tonight, a lot of people excited."

Cueto is now 1-1 with a 2.05 ERA since being acquired by the Royals from the Cincinnati Reds

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Evan Petzold
Evan Petzold is a Detroit-based journalist with expertise in covering the Tigers, Pistons, and Red Wings. A member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) and Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association (DBSA), he brings a unique skill set in reporting and broadcasting to the table.