Verlander earns his 18th win as Tigers top Royals
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| Regular Season Series |
| Detroit leads 11-7 (as of Sun 9/23) |
| Fri 4/6 |
@KC 3, DET 1 |
Recap |
| Sat 4/7 |
DET 6, @KC 5 |
Recap |
| Sun 4/8 |
DET 3, @KC 2 |
Recap |
| Mon 4/16 |
@DET 12, KC 5 |
Recap |
| Tue 4/17 |
@DET 7, KC 6 |
Recap |
| Wed 4/18 |
KC 4, @DET 3 |
Recap |
| Fri 5/4 |
DET 6, @KC 3 |
Recap |
| Sat 5/5 |
DET 7, @KC 5 |
Recap |
| Sun 5/6 |
DET 13, @KC 4 |
Recap |
| Fri 7/20 |
KC 10, @DET 2 |
Recap |
| Sat 7/21 |
@DET 10, KC 8 |
Recap |
| Sun 7/22 |
KC 5, @DET 2 |
Recap |
| Tue 8/28 |
@KC 6, DET 3 |
Recap |
| Wed 8/29 |
@KC 5, DET 0 |
Recap |
| Thu 8/30 |
DET 6, @KC 1 |
Recap |
| Fri 9/21 |
@DET 5, KC 4 |
Recap |
| Sat 9/22 |
KC 7, @DET 4 |
Recap |
| >Sun 9/23 |
@DET 7, KC 2 |
Box Score |
| · Complete Schedule: Tigers | Royals |
| Scoring Summary |
| KAN | DET |
 | 1st | R Raburn doubled to deep left, P Polanco scored. | 0 | 1 |
| 1st | C Guillen singled to left center, R Raburn scored. | 0 | 2 |
| 1st | M Thames homered to left, C Guillen scored. | 0 | 4 |
 | 2nd | B Butler homered to left. | 1 | 4 |
| 2nd | R Raburn grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, P Polanco out at second, R Santiago to third, R Santiago scored, R Raburn to second on throwing error by shortstop T Pena. | 1 | 5 |
| 3rd | M Thames homered to left. | 1 | 6 |
| 6th | J Smith grounded into fielder's choice to first, M Teahen scored, A Gordon out at second. | 2 | 6 |
| 8th | R Raburn homered to left. | 2 | 7 |
| · View complete Play-By-Play |
| Game Information |
| Stadium | Comerica Park, Detroit, MI |
| Attendance | 40,068 (97.1% full) - % is based on regular season capacity |
| Game Time | 2:42 |
| Weather | 79 degrees, sunny |
| Wind | 10 mph |
| Umpires | Home Plate - Eric Cooper, First Base - Mike Reilly, Second Base - Jeff Kellogg, Third Base - Andy Fletcher |
DETROIT (AP) -- The television was tuned to another channel in the Tigers clubhouse when Detroit's division-title hopes disappeared.
Moments after their 7-2 win over the
Kansas City Royals, the Tigers were eliminated from the AL Central race when Cleveland beat over Oakland. But Jim Leyland's office TV was off and the players were watching the Lions-Eagles game.
"I knew it was getting close, but I wasn't even sure if they could do it today," said
Curtis Granderson. "It's disappointing, but we knew it was coming."
| Division Magic Numbers |
|
The magic number is derived by adding one to the number of
remaining games and subtracting the number of games ahead in the
loss column from the second-place team. Here's where the leaders stand: |
| AL EAST |
| x-Red Sox | 6 |
| AL CENTRAL |
| x-Indians | Won division |
| AL WEST |
| x-Angels | Won division |
| NL EAST |
| Mets | 5 |
| NL CENTRAL |
| Cubs | 4 |
| NL WEST |
| D-backs | 5 |
| x-clinched playoff spot |
The defending AL champions still have an outside shot at the wild card, but after the Yankees beat the Blue Jays 7-5, the Tigers were 5½ behind with six games to play. They aren't counting on a New York collapse in the final week to reach the postseason. That's why Leyland rested
Magglio Ordonez,
Gary Sheffield and
Ivan Rodriguez.
"I almost feel like apologizing to the fans for having so many guys out on Fan Appreciation Day, but we've got a lot of banged-up players and I want to protect them," Leyland said. "Playing 162 games is really a grind."
Leyland didn't rest All-Star
Justin Verlander, though, and he responded with his 18th win, aided by a pair of
Marcus Thames homers.
"We're not giving up -- we're going to play hard the rest of the year," Thames said. "I'm going to keep trying to hit the ball hard."
Verlander (18-6) allowed two runs, five hits and two walks in six innings. He has 35 wins in his first two full seasons, the most for a Tigers pitcher since Frank Lary also had 35 from 1955-56.
"He learns something every time he's out there," Leyland said. "He's going to be special."
Detroit scored four runs off
Jorge De La Rosa in the first and never looked back.
With one out,
Placido Polanco singled and scored on
Ryan Raburn's double.
Carlos Guillen made it 2-0 with an RBI single, and Thames homered off the foul pole in left.
"We got behind early, and that makes it tough to get back into it," Kansas City manager Buddy Bell said.
De La Rosa (8-12) allowed four hits and a walk in the only inning of his first start since July 31.
"I felt really good, but I think I just threw the ball too hard," he said. "My control wasn't there, and I paid for it."
Billy Butler led off the Kansas City second with his eighth homer, but the Royals handed the run back when
Ramon Santiago reached on an error by third baseman
Alex Gordon and scored after another error by second baseman
Jason Smith.
Thames led off the third with another homer to left, his 16th, to give Detroit a 6-1 lead.
Neither team scored again until Smith's RBI groundout made it 6-2 in the sixth, but the Royals never put together a serious rally against the Tigers' bullpen.
"The pen kept us in the game, but we just couldn't capitalize," Butler said.
Raburn capped the scoring with a leadoff homer in the eighth.
"I felt pretty good about this lineup, even if it didn't look great on paper," Leyland said. "We have some young guys who are hungry to play, and there are times that it is good to send in the shock troops."
Game notes Thames has four two-homer games in his career, including three against the Royals. ... Ed Summers owns the Tigers record for wins in the first two seasons of a career -- 43 from 1908-09. ... The Tigers won the season series 11-7. ... Raburn's first-inning double was Detroit's 336th of the season. The Tigers need four more to pass the 1929 team for second on the franchise list. The 1934 Tigers hit 349 doubles. ... Butler's homer extended his hitting streak to 10 games. He is batting .383 against the Tigers this season.
Tigers 7, 
Royals 2