Johnny Giavotella hit his first major league home run and Mitch Maier tripled in a run as the Kansas City Royals avoided a three-game sweep with a 4-3 victory over the visiting Detroit Tigers on Sunday afternoon.

Billy Butler and Brayan Pena each added an RBI for the Royals, who are in the midst of a stretch of 20 games in as many days.

Kansas City jumped on Max Scherzer (11-7) in the fourth, rallying for three runs to open the scoring. Maier provided the highlight of the frame when he laced a triple to deep right-center, scoring Eric Hosmer from first base.

Giavotella struck in the fifth, taking a 2-1 offering from Scherzer over the wall in the left field corner. Through his first three major league games, Giavotella is 5-for-11 (.455) with three runs scored and two RBIs.

Bruce Chen (6-5) went five-plus innings to earn the win and Joakim Soria worked the ninth for his 21st save.

The Tigers rallied around a rain delay in the sixth, getting back-to-back RBI doubles from Andy Dirks and Austin Jackson before a 46-minute stoppage. Miguel Cabrera added an RBI double of his own when play resumed.