KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Martin Maldonado and Jorge Soler hit late homers and Whit Merrifield scored on a wild pitch as the Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 Friday night.

Bubba Starling was hitless in his long-awaited major league debut for Kansas City, and the Royals lost starter Danny Duffy to a bruised pitching hand.

Maldonado hit a solo homer that snapped a 5-5 tie in the seventh inning. Merrifield hit a double, stole third and scored on a wild pitch in the same inning. Soler added an insurance run, opening the eighth inning with his 24th homer of the season.

Starling, a three-sport star from nearby Gardner-Edgerton (Kan.) High School who was taken by the Royals in the first round of the 2011 draft, ended his 7 ½-year pilgrimage through the minors. He was greeted by a standing ovation from the crowd of 25,059. He walked in his first at-bat in the second inning and scored on a throwing error. He struck out and grounded out twice.

Playing center field, Starling tried for a diving catch of a sinking liner off the bat of Victor Reyes in the sixth inning, but it went off his glove for a run-scoring double.

Reyes had three hits and scored twice for the Tigers.