KANSAS CITY — Out of nowhere, the Royals’ stagnant offense rose up for two runs in the eighth inning — albeit with a little help from the Tigers’ defense — to secure a much-needed, 3-2 victory on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals had lost eight of nine coming in.

The winning rally started when Adalberto Mondesi, who had three hits, rolled a grounder through the shortstop hole and then hustled into second for a double.

Jorge Soler followed with a broken-bat double into the left-field corner against right-hander Victor Alcantara, tying the score at 2-2. Terrance Gore pinch-ran for Soler and stole third.

Then Cheslor Cuthbert hit a routine pop behind first base down the right-field line and it dropped as three Tigers defenders looked on, allowing Gore to score.

Right-hander Jakob Junis threw seven innings of two-run ball. Junis didn’t walk a batter for the first time this season and struck out five.

Junis gave up five hits; two of them were home runs. In the first inning, Junis threw a four-seamer up in the zone that Nicholas Castellanos clobbered into the left-center field seats for his seventh home run. With one out in the fourth, Junis threw a four-seamer down the middle that Brandon Dixon jacked into the seats in left.