Tigers stumble in 9th, rally to beat Royals in 10

Tigers 10, Royals 8 (10 innings)

DETROIT (AP) -- The Royals and Tigers played a game that looked so ugly Saturday night that Detroit manager Jim Leyland could hardly watch.

But was it so bad he could smell it?

"That one had a bad odor to it the whole way," Leyland said.

Brandon Inge's two-run homer in the 10th inning gave the Tigers a 10-8 win over Kansas City, which came back from four down in the fifth inning and tied the game with two runs in the ninth off closer Todd Jones.

"I had been trying to be aggressive and hit the ball on the screws," said Inge, who had been 0-for-4 on the night. "I had gotten a lot of good swings and popped the ball up."

Sean Casey singled with one out before Inge lined the first pitch he saw from reliever Joakim Soria (1-3) over the left-field fence for his 12th homer of the season. Soria had gone 20 2/3 innings without allowing a run.

"I wanted to give him a fastball in the zone," he said. "I got it up and he hit it."

Craig Monroe drove in four runs, including a three-run homer, Ryan Raburn hit his first major league home run, and Placido Polanco also homered for Detroit.

The Royals trailed 8-6 in the ninth. After Jones came on, David DeJesus had an RBI groundout, and Mark Grudzielanek's single brought in Tony Pena Jr. with the tying run. It was Jones' fifth blown save of the season.

"They scored early and often, we scored late," said Kansas City's Emil Brown. "We got back into the game but just couldn't close it"

Justin Verlander gave up five runs, four earned, and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings, walking two and striking out seven. He also had a career-high three of the Tigers' four wild pitches.

"It's a long season, 36 starts," Tigers reliever Chad Durbin said. "You're going to have starts where your stuff isn't 100 percent."

But it benefited Durbin (7-3), who got the win by pitching a perfect 10th.

Royals starter Jorge De La Rosa got battered early, giving up seven runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out one.

Monroe broke a 2-2 tie with his two-out, three-run homer in the third.

John Buck made it 5-3 in the fifth with his 16th home run. The drive to right center was originally ruled a double, but the Royals argued and after the umpires conferred, the call was reversed. Replays showed the ball hit above the yellow home run line.

The Tigers added two runs in the fifth on Gary Sheffield's RBI double and Rodriguez's two-out, run-scoring single, before Brown closed the gap to 7-5 with a two-out, two-run single in the sixth.

Polanco hit his fourth home run in the seventh, and the Royals got a run in the eighth on Alex Gordon's fielder's choice.

Kansas City took a 1-0 lead in the first with the aid of two Verlander wild pitches. DeJesus led off with a walk and eventually scored on Billy Butler's two-out single.

But Detroit took a 2-1 lead in its half of the first. Raburn led off with his home run to tie the game, and consecutive two-out doubles by Ordonez and Monroe gave the Tigers the lead.

The Royals tied it in the third on Rodriguez's passed ball after a leadoff single by Pena, and Mark Teahen's two-out double, which sent Pena to third.

Game notes
Ordonez, who normally plays RF, was Detroit's DH. Sheffield moved to RF. Ordonez has been bothered by a sore heel. ... The Tigers wore the uniforms of the Detroit Stars and the Royals wore the Kansas City Monarchs' uniforms as part of Negro League Weekend at Comerica Park. ... Butler has 20 RBIs in his last 13 games. ... Sheffield and 2B Polanco collided on Teahen's double in the third. Sheffield charged in and slid, attempting to catch the pop fly, and took the legs out from under Polanco. Both players remained in the game. ... A crowd of 43,408 watched the game, the 11th straight sellout at Comerica Park.