Tigers blow six-run lead, lose AL Central title in extras

DETROIT (AP) -- The Detroit Tigers head to Yankee Stadium for the playoffs, knowing all too well how close they were to winning the AL Central title and opening at home.

Second-Half Slippage
A month-to-month tracking of the Tigers' season (team ERA in July and September had something to do with the Twins and White Sox making it a race in the Central). The Twins clinched Sunday with a win and Detroit getting gobbled up at home by the Royals. The Tigers open the postseason Tuesday at Yankee Stadium as the wild-card entrant.
Month	Record	Average	ERA
April	16-9	.264	3.22
May	19-9	.264	3.85
June	20-7	.274	3.32
July	15-10	.294	4.53
August	13-16	.263	3.75
Sept./Oct.	12-16	.268	4.38
Season	95-67	.274	3.84

Needing one more victory to clinch the division, the sagging Tigers lost their final five games of the season. They wound up with the wild card after Sunday's disappointment -- wasting a six-run lead and then watching All-Star starter Kenny Rogers lose in relief 10-8 to the last-place Kansas City Royals in 12 innings.

"We got beat," Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson said. "Kansas City played great. They outhit us, they outscored us and we ended up getting swept by them."

Detroit will open the playoffs on the road Tuesday night against the Yankees.

"Once we get to New York, we'll be ready to go," first baseman Sean Casey said. "It's a new season come Tuesday night."

Nate Robertson will start for Detroit in Game 1 and rookie Justin Verlander (17-9) is scheduled to pitch Game 2.

"It's a lot easier to beat them three out of five than four out of seven," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "We needed our pitchers to give us more than we got in the last five days. If we keep pitching like this, nothing else is going to matter."

Rogers (17-8) will start Game 3 at Comerica Park and Jeremy Bonderman (14-8) will pitch Game 4, if necessary. Rogers and Bonderman both worked Sunday.

Minnesota wound up as the Central champion, and will start the playoffs at home against Oakland.

"Congratulations to the Minnesota Twins. I take my hat off to them, they did a great job this year," Leyland said.

Elias Says

The Tigers were the 18th team since 1900 to fall out of first place on the final day of the regular season. Detroit was the first to so by losing a game in which it led by more than three runs (the Tigers led the Royals, 6-0) and the second to do so by losing to a last-place team. The other was the 1944 Tigers, who were defeated by the last-place Senators on the final day of the season and overtaken for the American League pennant by the St. Louis Browns. • For more Elias Says, click here

If the Tigers had won, they would've finished with an identical 96-66 record as the Twins -- and Detroit would've won the division crown because of its 11-8 mark against Minnesota.

The Royals, tied with Tampa Bay for the worst record in the majors, completed their first three-game sweep in Detroit since 1980.

"It was neat to see our kids play and fight hard," interim Royals manager Bill Doran said. "Maybe they can learn something and grow from what they did this weekend."

Detroit loaded the bases with one out in the 11th, but Brandon Inge and Granderson both struck out.

"We had a chance, we were in the driver's seat the whole time. All we can do is blame ourselves," Granderson said.

In the 12th, Esteban German's RBI single and Emil Brown's bases-loaded walk off Rogers won it for the Royals. Rogers made his first relief appearance since 2003 as the Tigers played to win, having seen the Twins' victory over Chicago posted on the scoreboard.

Jimmy Gobble (4-6) was the winning pitcher.

"It nice to be on the winning side, but you can't take anything away from the Tigers, they had a great season," Gobble said.

The Tigers rushed to a 6-0 lead behind Bonderman, scoring five times in the third. Craig Monroe, Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen all doubled before Inge hit his 27th home run.

Down 7-4, the Royals rallied for four runs in the eighth. A throwing error by Inge from third base set up David DeJesus' infield single off Todd Jones, putting Kansas City ahead 8-7.

Matt Stairs, who isn't eligible for the postseason roster, tied it with a pinch-hit homer in the Tigers eighth off Scott Dohmann.

The Tigers tried to win it in the 11th. Magglio Ordonez hit a one-out single, Carlos Guillen also singled and the runners moved up on right fielder Mitch Maier's throwing error.

Reliever Joe Nelson intentionally walked Ivan Rodriguez to load the bases, then struck out Inge. Gobble then came in and fanned Granderson.

Angel Berroa started the Royals 12th with a single. One out later, Angel Sanchez singled and Joey Gathright walked to load the bases.

German hit a go-ahead single and after DeJesus grounded into a forceout at the plate, Rogers walked Brown to force home the 10th run.

The Royals began their comeback from a 6-0 deficit when Brown's two-run double keyed a three-run fourth.

In the fifth, a fan interfered with German's RBI double down the left-field line, finishing Bonderman, who exited to a standing ovation. Joel Zumaya pitched two scoreless innings in relief.

Rodriguez hit an RBI triple in the fifth that made it 7-4.

Game notes
Leyland said OF Marcus Thames was recovering well from a throat infection. But the manager is concerned about playing Thames in Tuesday night's playoff opener after missing nearly a week of playing time. ... Guillen scored his 100th run, the first Tigers player to reach the mark since Bobby Higginson in 2000. ... The game was played before a sellout crowd of 40,155.