# MLB in Omaha

MLB in Omaha was a Major League Baseball (MLB) specialty game played between the American League (AL) Central's Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals on June 13, 2019. The game was played at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska, two days before the start of that season's College World Series, held at the same venue. This was the first regular-season MLB contest played in the state of Nebraska. The game, sponsored by GEICO and broadcast on ESPN, was won by the Royals, 7–3.

## Background

In June 2018, MLB announced that the Tigers and Royals would play a regular season game at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. MLB wanted a way to connect College Baseball with Major League Baseball, and did so by scheduling an MLB game two days before the 2019 College World Series in Omaha.

## Game
### Recap

The Royals served as the home team, while the Tigers were the visitors. Matthew Boyd was the starting pitcher for Detroit, and Homer Bailey started for Kansas City. Nicky Lopez hit his first career home run where he played college baseball to start the scoring for the Royals. Homer Bailey pitched six scoreless innings and got the win while Matthew Boyd was given the loss. The Royals won the game 7–3.

### Line score

June 13, 2019 7:08 p.m. CDT (8:08 p.m. EDT) at TD Ameritrade Park :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Detroit Tigers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
| Kansas City Royals | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | × | 7 | 10 | 1 |
| WP: Homer Bailey (5–6) LP: Matthew Boyd (5–5) Sv: Ian Kennedy (6) Home runs: Away: None Home: Nicky Lopez (1) |||||||||||||

### Box score

| Tigers | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | AVG |
| JaCoby Jones, CF | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .257 |
| Victor Reyes, CF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .500 |
| Christin Stewart, LF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .241 |
| Nicholas Castellanos, RF | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .260 |
| Miguel Cabrera, DH | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .284 |
| Ronny Rodriguez, PR–DH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .219 |
| Brandon Dixon, 1B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .289 |
| Niko Goodrum, SS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .230 |
| Harold Castro, 2B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .262 |
| Grayson Greiner, C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .161 |
| Dawel Lugo, 3B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .242 |
| Tigers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Matthew Boyd (L) | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 3.35 |
| Carlos Torres | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 11.25 |
| Austin Adams | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7.00 |
| Royals | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | AVG |
| Whit Merrifield, RF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .294 |
| Adalberto Mondesi, SS | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .277 |
| Cheslor Cuthbert, 1B | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .333 |
| Jorge Soler, DH | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .245 |
| Kelvin Gutierrez, 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .260 |
| Nicky Lopez, 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .216 |
| Martin Maldonado, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .202 |
| Terrance Gore, LF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .286 |
| Billy Hamilton, CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .227 |
| Royals | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Homer Bailey (W) | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 5.37 |
| Jorge López | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.79 |
| Kevin McCarthy | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.32 |
| Wily Peralta | 2⁄3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.66 |
| Ian Kennedy (S) | 1⁄3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.67 |