May 14, 2021 3 min read

Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu and Kansas City batter Hunter Dozier were forced to leave after a frightening collision on a popup, and the Royals ended an 11-game losing streak by beating Chicago 6-2 Friday in the opener of a doubleheader.

Salvador Perez hit a three-run homer and Michael A. Taylor had a two-run drive as the Royals stopped Chicago’s six-game winning streak.

“That one was heavy,” Kansas City manager Mike Matheny said. “Guys came out with a little bit of life and gave us a little bit of room.”

“You just need a little bit of that reinforcement with the good things that happened. We had guys taking walks, getting singles, working deep counts,” he said.

After popping up in the second inning, Dozier jogged out of the batter’s box with his head down and grazed past catcher Yasmani Grandal. Dozier took another couple of steps and then slammed hard into Abreu as he was tracking the ball, knocking both players to the ground about 20 feet from the plate.

Grandal caught the ball as trainers and medical staffs came onto the field. After few minutes, Abreu got up and left the field walking on his own, but the AL MVP looked dazed with his arms draped around two staffers.

Abreu suffered a facial bruise and cut, along with a bruised left knee. Tests for a concussion were negative and his status was day-to-day.

Dozier was put on the seven-day concussion injured list.

Interleague

Chicago Cubs 4, Detroit 2: Kris Bryant hit a two-run homer in the third inning, and the Chicago Cubs went on to a 4-2 victory over the Tigers, snapping Detroit’s four-game winning streak.

Jake Arrieta (4-3) faced the minimum number of hitters until the bottom of the sixth, when Detroit’s Jake Rogers and Robbie Grossman hit consecutive home runs with two out. That was all the scoring for the Tigers, who entered the night with the second-worst record in baseball, percentage points ahead of Minnesota.

Brewers’ Flowers retires: Veteran catcher Tyler Flowers has retired a week after signing a minor league contract with the Atlanta Braves.

MLB.com first reported Flowers’ decision and noted that he hurt his back last weekend. Braves manager Brian Snitker confirmed Flowers’ retirement while speaking to reporters before their game Friday with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Flowers, 35, played for the Braves from 2016-20 after spending seven seasons with the Chicago White Sox.

American League

N.Y. Yankees 5, Baltimore 4: Aaron Judge hit two more home runs against Baltimore, Gio Urshela had a go-ahead, pinch-hit shot and the New York Yankees overcame a spate of injuries to beat the Orioles, 5-4.

Judge is now 10 for 19 with five home runs facing the Orioles this season. He has 13 career multihomer games, five of them against Baltimore.