Kansas City, Mo.– Whit Merrifield and Eric Hosmer homered and the Kansas City Royals collected 19 hits en route to beating the Detroit Tigers 16-4 on Thursday in Kansas City.

The Royals built an 8-0 lead after three innings and cruised from there, adding four runs in the sixth inning and four more in the eighth innings.

Mike Moustakas had three hits and three RBI for the Royals (47-47) and Jorge Bonifacio, Hosmer, Salvador Perez, Brandon Moss and Alcides Escobar each had two hits.

Danny Duffy earned the win for Kansas City, allowing four runs on nine hits with four strikeouts in five innings. Michael Fulmer took the loss for Detroit (43-51), lasting just 2 2 2/3 innings while allowing eight runs on seven hits.

Detroit scored twice in the fifth inning and once in the sixth. Jose Iglesias had an RBI single and Ian Kinsler had an RBI double in the fifth inning. Miguel Cabrera added an RBI single in the sixth inning.

Detroit plays at 8:10 p.m. Friday at Minnesota.