KANSAS CITY, Mo. Kenny Rogers pitched six strong innings and Placido Polanco homered and drove in two runs to help the Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 7-1 Tuesday night.
Magglio Ordonez had three of the Tigers 12 hits and had two RBIs.
Rogers (8-6) did not come back after a 2-hour, 20-minute rain delay in the bottom of the seventh. He gave up four hits and one run in. In his past 11 starts, Rogers is 4-2 with a 2.92 earned run average.
The Tigers are 27-13 in their past 40 games, the most wins in the majors during that stretch, going from 12 games below .500 on June 6 to two games above .500.
Rogers ended a personal five-game losing streak against the Royals, defeating them for the first time since Sept. 23, 2006. Rogers had a 7.03 ERA in his previous five outings, four starts, against Kansas City.
Detroit sent eight men to the plate in a three-run fifth to take a four-run lead. Curtis Granderson led off the inning with a single and stopped at third on Polanco s double. Carlos Guillen worked a 12-pitch walk off reliever Joel Peralta to load the bases with none out. Miguel Cabrera s one-out single to right scored Granderson.
Matt Joyce walked with the bases loaded, scoring Polanco. Gary Sheffield s sacrifice fly brought home Guillen with the final run of the inning.
Rogers gave up a run in the first when Mike Aviles doubled, extending his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games. He scored on Mark Grudzielanek s single.
Grudzielanek had three of the four hits off Rogers and is 12-for-23 (.652) off the 43-year-old left-hander.
Guillen doubled with two outs in the first and scored on Ordonez s single for the first Detroit run.
Polanco homered in the third off Kyle Davies (3-2) to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. His fielder s choice grounder in the ninth scored Edgar Renteria, who led off the inning with a single.
Davies (3-2) lasted but four innings as his pitch count reached 96. He allowed two runs on five hits. Davies was 3-0 with a 1.46 ERA in his first four starts after the Royals recalled him on May 31. In four July starts, Davies is 0-1 with a 6.53 ERA and he has not won since June 17, a span of six starts.
Notes:The Royals attendance for 48 home games is 945,865. They are the only AL club that has not reached one million in attendance. ... Royals starting pitchers have thrown a total of 21 1-3 innings in five games after the All-Star break.