DETROIT — Face it, Jake Rogers is inimitable.

The Detroit Tigers staged a Jake Rogers lookalike contest before Saturday's game, but there was no mistaking the real deal.

Rogers, hitting ninth, had a pair of RBI knocks to help send the Tigers to a series-claiming, 4-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

It was the Tigers’ fifth straight win, their ninth in the last 10 and it extended their lead in the American League Central to 11 1/2 games.

Rogers lined a double into the left-field corner in the third inning, scoring Javier Báez from first base. In the fifth, his single to left-center brought speedy Zach McKinstry all the way home from first base.

Third-base coach Joey Cora boldly sent McKinstry home even though the throw from centerfielder Kyle Isbel was already on its way to shortstop Bobby Witt, Jr. Witt’s throw was off line and McKinstry scored standing up.

Spencer Torkelson’s 27th home run of the season, a screaming, 408-foot liner into the visitor’s bullpen in the fourth, put the Tigers up 3-1.

All that damage was against Royals starter Michael Wacha, who hadn’t allowed more than two runs in any of his last seven starts.

The Tigers made Wacha labor. He finished his night at 108 pitches, barely getting through the sixth inning.

His final batter was Dillon Dingler and they embarked on an epic 15-pitch fight. Wacha threw every pitch in his tool kit and Dingler kept fouling them off. He sent the 14th pitch down the left-field line just outside the foul pole.

Pitch No. 15 was called strike three by home plate umpire Adam Beck, though the Statcast K-zone showed it well outside the zone.

Isbel made two outstanding defensive plays in that inning to help Wacha through. With Gleyber Torres at first base, he went back to the wall in center to snare a 402-foot drive by Kerry Carpenter. After Torkelson singled Torres to second, Isbel made a diving catch of a sinking liner by Riley Greene.

The Tigers tacked on a vital insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. Andy Ibanez, pinch-hitting for Colt Keith against lefty reliever Sam Long, went down and launched a 1-2 curveball over the fence in left field.

Manager AJ Hinch continues to wield his bullpen like a weapon.

He pulled starter Chris Paddack after five innings. He’d allowed a run and scattered five hits but was about to go through the Royals lineup a third time.

Instead, Hinch gave the Royals their first taste of rookie Troy Melton.

They weren’t overly impressed. Witt greeted him with a home run to left to make it a 3-2 game.

In the seventh, Melton walked Jonathan India and yielded a single to Randal Grichuk.

Hinch went back to the bullpen, bringing in lefty Tyler Holton to face lefty-swinging Isbel. Holton, with one pitch, induced an inning-ending, 5-4-3 double-play.

Holton struck out Mike Yastrzemski to start the eighth before Witt struck again, driving his third hit of the game, a single to left-center.

He ended up on second when Greene didn’t field the ball cleanly and went to third on a ground out by Vinnie Pasquantino.

With the tying run on third and right-hander Maikel Garcia up, Hinch brought in Will Vest. Vest threw 20 pitches to close out the win on Friday night.

Vest punched him out with a 96 mph heater.

He finished off his 19th save, working a clean ninth inning.

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