KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ If there's a way for a pitcher to go into the winter unconcerned about giving up more home runs than anyone else in the majors, Jeff Suppan found it.

In his last start of the season Wednesday night, the Kansas City right-hander pitched his second straight complete game and second career shutout, blanking Detroit on six hits for a 3-0 victory.

After a miserable first half of the year, a more confident Suppan (10-9) was 8-3 in the second half.

``I tried to take a new approach, one game at a time,'' said Suppan, who leads the majors with 36 homers allowed. ``It seems to work.''

Between the first half and second half, Suppan said, ``There have been a lot of differences.''

``There are a lot of things I want to accomplish in the off-season so I'm ready for next year,'' he said. ``I want to take the curveball I've had the last two games, getting back to trusting it and throwing it effectively. It's helped out a lot.''

Mike Sweeney and Joe Randa padded career-best years with solo home runs and Sweeney caught Chicago's Frank Thomas for the AL lead with 142 RBIs as the Tigers continued their September nosedive.

Since going three games over .500 on Sept. 5 and climbing into the wild card chase, the Tigers have lost 15 of 21.

``We reverted back to our old ways,'' manager Phil Garner said.

``We could have been there. We've just fizzled in the month of September. It's like we just decided we weren't going to play in September. It's as simple as that.''

Suppan struck out three, walked three and survived a shaky ninth when the Tigers had two on and one out.

His only other shutout was on Aug. 3, 1999, when he beat Anaheim 7-0 on a five-hitter.

``He had the game under control,'' Garner said. ``We never really gave him any contest. We might have played 50 innings tonight and not scored a run, the way it looked.''

Suppan also saved the Royals' beleaguered staff the embarrassment of being the first in franchise history not to have at least one starter with double-digit wins.

Sweeney hit a 1-1 pitch from Hideo Nomo (8-12) over the left-field fence leading off the fourth for his 28th home run.

Until informed by reporters, Sweeney did not realize he had caught Thomas in the RBI race.

``I'm not really interested in personal stats,'' he said. ``I'm more excited the way the team is playing, winning close games, getting great pitching to go along with our hitting.''

One out after Sweeney's homer, Randa hit a 1-1 delivery over the wall in left-center for his 15th homer and career-best 103rd RBI.

Hector Ortiz, who was 3-for-3 with one double and two singles, scored in the seventh on Rey Sanchez's single.

Nomo had his winning streak halted at four games. He allowed three runs on eight hits in 6 1-3 innings, with one walk and six strikeouts.

With 860 runs this season, the Royals have broken the club record for runs scored for the second consecutive year.

Notes: Detroit Billy McMillon made a terrific catch of Mark Quinn's shallow fly into short right field in the second. Royals RF Jermaine Dye almost made a similar play in the sixth, running in and sliding feet-first for Dean Palmer's sinking liner. But the ball popped out of his glove when it struck the ground. ... The Royals' previous record for runs scored in a year was 856. ... The Royals have 1,602 hits. The club record set in 1980 is 1,633. ... In 25 games, starts, Ortiz has had more than one hit 11 times.