Sal Perez leaves with an injury as the Kansas City Royals lose series opener in Detroit

Kansas City Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch had allowed just three hits, including an infield single, entering the fifth inning on Friday night. He struck out the first batter of the inning on three pitches, but the next three batters reached and scored.

The fifth inning turned the game upside down for Lynch as the Detroit Tigers turned a two-run deficit into a two-run lead. The next half inning, Royals star catcher Salvador Perez left the game after he got hit by a 93-mph pitch on the right hand.

Despite what appeared a potentially-devastating series of events, the Royals bounced back and tied the score.

Ultimately, the Royals’ bullpen faltered in a 5-4 loss to the Tigers in front of an announced 16,067 in the first game of a three-game series at Comerica Park in Detroit. The deciding run scored against Royals reliever Carlos Hernández in the seventh inning.

The loss marked the third in a row for the Royals (53-80).

Royals center fielder Michael A. Taylor went 1 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs, and Kyle Isbel went 2 for 3 with an RBI.

Michael Massey (1 for 3, run scored, walk), Hunter Dozier (1 for 4, run scored) and MJ Melendez (1 for 4) also had hits for the Royals in the loss, while Ryan O’Hearn and Brent Rooker each had pinch-hit singles in their only at-bats. O’Hearn now has nine pinch hits this season.

Perez, who had thumb surgery on his left hand earlier this summer, came out of the game immediately after he got hit. Sebastian Rivero took over at catcher. Melendez caught the final inning after O’Hearn pinch-hit for Rivero in the eighth.

Royals manager Mike Matheny told reporters in Detroit after the game that X-rays were negative on Perez’s hand and he’s considered day-to-day.

The Royals scored a pair in the second inning with two outs. After back-to-back strikeouts by Tigers starting pitcher Drew Hutchison to start the inning, Massey reached on a bunt single. Then Dozier lined a single to left field.

Isbel delivered an RBI single on the ground to center field, and Tigers highly-regarded rookie center fielder Riley Greene booted the ball, knocking it into right-center as Dozier scored behind Massey and Isbel advanced to third base.

That gave Lynch an early 2-0 advantage. The Royals held onto that edge until the fifth inning.

Lynch struck out Spencer Torkelson to start the fifth, but then he gave up a line-drive home run down the left-field line to Willi Castro.

Lynch then walked back-to-back batters, then committed a balk that moved both into scoring position. Victor Reyes’ sacrifice fly tied the score, 2-2, but the Tigers weren’t done.

With still just one out in the inning, Javier Baez smashed a two-run homer to make the score 4-2.

Lynch, who got a no-decision, allowed four runs on five hits (two home runs) and three walks in five innings. He also struck out four in his 22nd start of the season in the majors.

The Royals rallied to tie the score in the sixth. After Perez got hit to start the inning, Taylor crushed a two-run home run — his third in the past five games — and tied the score 4-4.

The Tigers (51-81) took the lead back in the seventh inning after Hernández issued a leadoff walk to Ryan Kreidler, who made his major-league debut, and Kreidler came around to score on a two-out, pinch-hit RBI single by Harold Castro. Jose Cuas gave up the single that drove in the run charged to Hernández.

O’Hearn’s pinch-hit single put the leadoff hitter on for the Royals in the eighth, but they weren’t able to score.