Gordon just misses homer off Scherzer

DETROIT -- Alex Gordon gave Tigers starter Max Scherzer a fright with a soaring drive down the right-field line with two runners on base in the fifth inning on Tuesday night at Comerica Park.

"When I hit it, it was way fair," Gordon said. "When I hit it, I was, 'Oh, cool, a three-run home run.' And then it kept hooking and hooking, so I didn't know. I hit it so high I thought maybe it went over the foul pole. But it looked foul [on the TV replay], I think they made the right call."

Scherzer certainly thought the ball was gone off the bat. He exclaimed in dismay before tugging on his cap bill with relief when it was called foul.

Royals manager Ned Yost wasn't so sure it was foul, however, and quizzed first-base umpire James Hoye at some length. Finally, all four umpires met on the infield to discuss it.

"It's not something that's challengeable, but I asked them to go out and review it," Yost said. "And all of four of them said that in their opinion it was obviously foul. I couldn't tell from where I was sitting."

Gordon then walked to load the bases, but Salvador Perez's hot liner was snagged by third baseman Nick Castellanos and Eric Hosmer struck out. The Royals got one run in the inning and lost, 4-2.