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Thursday, Sep. 28 8:05pm ET
Royals score seven in wacky eighth | |||||
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Kansas City's final turn at bat in its last home game was one to remember. The Royals parlayed six hits, including four infield singles, an error, a hit batsman and an intentional walk into seven runs in the eighth inning against one of baseball's top closers in an 8-5 win over Detroit on Thursday night. Then the players all tossed their caps to the fans, who were giving them a standing ovation. "The fans are a big part of the energy here," said manager Tony Muser, whose Royals finished 42-39 at Kauffman Stadium for their first winning home record since 1994. "This team has shown heart all year. We're paid to play as hard as we can for 162 games and that's what we'll do," third baseman Joe Randa said. Todd Jones, whose 41 saves are a Tigers record and are tied with Boston's Derek Lowe for the AL lead, came in with one out and two on and Detroit leading 5-1. He gave up RBI singles to Mark Quinn and Jorge Fabregas, making it 5-3. Gregg Zaun's pinch infield single loaded the bases for Johnny Damon, who hit a high bouncer to Hal Morris at first base. But Jones was late getting to the bag to take Morris' throw and Damon was safe, making it 5-4. Pinch-hitter Dee Brown then lined a ball barely fair off third baseman Dean Palmer's glove, who was charged with an error on the potential double-play grounder as two more runs scored to put the Royals ahead 6-5. Jones has blown four saves in 45 chances and the Tigers, who also blew a 5-1 lead to the Royals on Tuesday night, lost for the 16th time in 22 games. "I'm stunned," Detroit manager Phil Garner said. "I'm just flat stunned. I don't know what to tell you." Jermaine Dye, whose infield single started the eighth, drove in the sixth run of the inning with a 6-4 forceout, before Randa's single off Jones' leg made it 8-5. The winner was Jose Santiago (8-6), who pitched 1 2-3 innings of one-hit relief. Ricky Bottalico worked the ninth for his 16th save in 24 chances. It was the Royals' first three-game sweep of the Tigers in Kansas City since 1995. "The only ball hit off him good was Randa's ball -- well, Quinn hit one, too," Garner said. "After that, every ball was in the infield. Every ball was a groundball. His stuff was good. I don't know what to tell you." The Tigers went ahead 5-0 on solo home runs by Bobby Higginson and Rob Fick, two RBI singles by Deivi Cruz, and another run-scoring single from Higginson. Dave Mlicki held Kansas City to six hits and one run through six-plus innings. He gave up a run in the sixth on Randa's RBI single. Game notesRoyals 2B Febles made the defensive play of the game in the third when Billy McMillon hit a hot shot to his right. Febles did a bellyflop to knock down the ball, jumped to his feet and made an off-balance throw to barely nip him. ... Higginson's total of 80 outfield assists in his first six seasons is surpassed by only six other players in baseball history. ... Palmer atoned for an earlier throwing error with a fine defensive play in the sixth, running in for a shoestring pickup of Quinn's infield chopper and throwing him out by a step to save a run. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Detroit Clubhouse Kansas City Clubhouse RECAPS Anaheim 6 Oakland 3
Kansas City 8
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