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DeJesus, Meche lead Royals over slumping Tigers

Sep 23, 2008 - 3:51 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Detroit Tigers' slide toward last place took another turn.

David DeJesus had four hits and Gil Meche tossed six strong innings as the Kansas City Royals handed the Tigers their 10th loss in their last 11 games with a 6-2 victory on Monday.

Meche (13-11) gave up two runs and four hits over six frames, striking out four and walking two for the Royals, who now have won nine of their last 11. It was the fourth time in his last five starts that he has held his opponent to two runs or less.

"I felt that I had decent command. My offspeed pitches were good but I could have been sharper with my fastball," Meche said. "I was able to keep them off-balance most of the night."

DeJesus scored the first run of the night after leading off the game with a triple - his seventh of the season - and scoring on Mike Aviles' RBI single. DeJesus added a run-scoring base hit in the eighth to cap his big night.

For the Tigers, a promising season that started to go up in smoke during the season's first week and never fully recovered may hit a new low by week's end. After going over the .500 mark in the middle of the year, and even flirting with the possibility of a second-half wild card run, the Tigers have dropped back to earth over the final two months of the season.

"We're professionals and we have a responsibility," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "It has been a difficult season, but we still have to try to win these last six games."

If their current skid holds up, they will be at the bottom of the American League Central Division, looking up at their four division foes. The Tigers (71-84) are just one game ahead of the Royals (71-86) for fourth place.

"We still have some work to do," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "We have five games left, they have seven left. It sure would be nice to finish ahead of them."

If the Tigers finish in last place, it would be the first time since the infamous 2003 campaign during which they suffered through 119 losses.

"I don't really think about last place or fourth place - I think about winning games," Leyland said. "We were just talking about trying to finish ahead of Cleveland, and now we're talking about trying to finish ahead of Kansas City."

Detroit cut its 3-0 deficit to just one in the sixth inning on Magglio Ordonez's sacrifice fly and Jeff Larish's RBI single. But the bullpen - as has so often been the case this year - couldn't keep up its end of the bargain. Gary Glover walked in a run in the seventh and Kansas City was handed another run one inning later on Bobby Seay's wild pitch.

"I like what we did tonight," Hillman said. "We got the lead, had some good at-bats, got some add-on runs and then the 'pen kept us in the game."

Detroit starter Zach Miner (8-5) gave up four runs, six hits and four walks to take the loss. It was his first loss since August 1, a span of eight starts.

"They were more aggressive in the count than they have been against me in the past," Miner said. "That first-pitch triple kind of showed me what they were thinking."

Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera left the game after the second inning with tightness in his upper back. He was replaced at first base by Larish and is tentatively listed as day-to-day.