Major League Baseball

Victor Martinez collects 1,000th RBI, Tigers top KC, 3-2

Published Apr. 21, 2016 12:14 a.m. ET

foxsports

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Jordan Zimmermann made his third straight scoreless start, Victor Martinez drove in the 1,000th run of his career and the Detroit Tigers held on to beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Wednesday night.

Francisco Rodriguez served up back-to-back homers to Alex Gordon and Salvador Perez in the ninth before striking out Mike Moustakas to leave runners on first and second. It was K-Rod's fourth save of the season and 390th overall, matching Dennis Eckersley for sixth-most on baseball's career list.

Zimmermann (3-0) scattered seven hits and a walk over 6 1/3 innings, striking out eight, in another sharp performance. He has yet to allow a run over 19 1/3 innings.

Ian Kinsler drove the other two runs for Detroit, which did just enough against Ian Kennedy (2-1) and the Kansas City bullpen to even the series.