Gage Workman turned his Detroit Tigers debut into a game-winner Sunday, pulling a third-pitch slider from Nick Mears into the seats in right field for a two-run homer that lifted Detroit to a 6-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

Workman, called up before the game to replace injured Kerry Carpenter, entered as a pinch-hitter with a runner on first base and one out in the sixth inning. It was his first career home run and it came in his 13th MLB career game, a sharp arrival for a player who had already seen big-league time with the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox in 2025.

The blast did more than put a highlight on Workman’s first day in a Tigers uniform. It ended Detroit’s five-game losing streak and kept the club from being swept in the three-game series. The Tigers left Kansas City with a win in the finale and a record that moved to 19-22, the same mark held by the Royals after the loss.

Detroit had taken an early lead in support of the debutant. Riley Greene opened the second inning with a leadoff single and stretched his on-base streak to a career-high 21 games. Hao-Yu Lee followed with an RBI triple, and Matt Vierling added a two-RBI double to put the Tigers ahead before Kansas City began to claw back.

The Royals answered with three runs against Drew Anderson in the third and fourth innings. Maikel Garcia, Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino strung together three straight hits in the third, and Carter Jensen added a sacrifice fly. Jac Caglianone then opened the fourth with a double, and Garcia later delivered a two-out RBI single to keep the game tight until Workman changed it again.

Noah Cameron took the loss after allowing three runs on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts across four innings. But the larger story belonged to Workman, a 2020 fourth-round draft pick whose first swing for Detroit gave the Tigers a needed win and a reason to leave Kauffman Stadium with something to build on.