Final
Rodriguez's ninth-inning blast lifts Tigers past Royals
Apr 8, 2007 - 11:55 PM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Ivan Rodriguez continued to rake at Kauffman Stadium and the Detroit Tigers continued to have their way with the Kansas City Royals.Rodriguez belted a three-run homer in the ninth inning to lift the Tigers to a 3-2 victory over the Royals.
A 13-time All-Star, Rodriguez is a career .352 hitter in 81 games in Kansas City. The veteran catcher owns the highest career average in this ballpark of any active player.
"He's a versatile hitter," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "I wouldn't say he's a power hitter; he's mostly a gap hitter, but you know he's going to do something good."
Rodriguez's latest outstanding performance at Kauffman helped the Tigers win the rubber game of this three-game series and improve to 16-5 in their last 21 meetings with the Royals.
"No doubt about it," Detroit first baseman Sean Casey added. "It was the biggest hit of the year."
"Every game has been close," Leyland said. "From a manager's standpoint, you'd like them to be easier. But with this one, you just thank your lucky stars and get on the bus."
Detroit trailed, 2-0, when Magglio Ordonez led off the ninth with a long double off Kansas City righthander David Riske (0-1), who was filling in for injured closer Octavio Dotel.
After Carlos Guillen drew a walk, Rodriguez gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead by belting Riske's first offering over the left field fence for his second homer of the season.
"I thought Pudge was going to bunt," Riske said. "I threw him a fastball down the middle. I'm thinking about trying to field the bunt instead of making a quality pitch, and it came back and bit me."
"In that situation, it could be anything," Rodriguez said. "I could bunt or swing the bat. With the tying run at first, you like to put the runners in scoring position. (Leyland) gave me the green light, and Riske threw it right where I wanted it."
Fernando Rodney (1-1) logged a scoreless eighth inning to pick up the win. Todd Jones worked around a two-out single in the ninth to record his third save of the campaign.
"With this team you've got to be ready," Jones said. "You've got to be focused because we've always got that slugger's chance late in the game. I wanted to close it out because (Rodriguez's home run) changed the whole series, and you don't want to waste it."
"We were fortunate," Leyland added. "(The Royals) probably didn't deserve to lose that game, but that's happened to us, too, where we were in there and just didn't win. You play nine innings, and every now and then you sneak one out. We snuck one out today. We didn't do much offensively for eight innings and then 'Boom!"
Tigers starter Jeremy Bonderman worked six innings, allowing two runs, seven hits and one walk with eight strikeouts.
"I thought I had pretty good stuff today," Bonderman said. "I was pulling the ball a little on breaking balls at times, but overall it was pretty good."
The Royals wasted a brilliant outing from starter Brandon Duckworth, who tossed 6 1/3 scoreless frames in his season debut. The righthander surrendered four hits and one walk with two strikeouts.
"It's going to happen," Duckworth said. "(Riske) is going to close out more games than he gives up. I primarly threw sinkers. On a day like today you want to just throw it low and let the ball do the work."
"(Duckworth) did a great job getting through their whole lineup," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "He was throwing everything for strikes. On every pitch he threw he knew where he was throwing it and why."
Mark Teahen had a solo homer in the first inning and an RBI hit in the third for Kansas City.
"I had a good day today," Teahen said. "I'm feeling good at the plate. But this is a tough one to swallow. We'll take it for what it is and build off the fact that our starters have thrown great in these six games."
- AL
FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
DETROIT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 6 0
KANSAS CITY 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 0 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: DET - JEREMY BONDERMAN, BOBBY SEAY (7TH), FERNANDO RODNEY (8TH),
TODD JONES (9TH) AND IVAN RODRIGUEZ
KAN - BRANDON DUCKWORTH, JIMMY GOBBLE (7TH), JOAKIM
SORIA (7TH
Apr 8 5:10 PM - AL
AT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATE
THREE-RUN HOME RUN BY IVAN RODRIGUEZ (2) TO LEFT WITH 0 OUT
IN THE 9TH OFF DAVID RISKE SCORED MAGGLIO ORDONEZ AND CARLOS
GUILLEN.
CURRENT SCORE: DETROIT 3, KANSAS CITY 2
DUE UP FOR DETROIT: S CASEY (.188, 0-FOR-3)
Tigers vs. RoyalsApr 8 4:56 PM - AL
AT KANSAS CITY - MID INNING UPDATE
PLAY: B Seay relieved J Bonderman.
SITUATION: 0 RUNS IN, NONE ON, 0 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: DETROIT 0
KANSAS CITY 2 BOTTOM, 7TH
DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: T Pena Jr (.316, 1-FOR-2)
Apr 8 4:15 PM - AL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
DETROIT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
KANSAS CITY 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 7 0 (BOT 7)
CURRENT PITCHERS: DET - JEREMY BONDERMAN
KAN - JOAKIM SORIA
DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: T PENA JR (.316, 1-FOR-2)
D DEJESUS (.364, 2-FOR-3)
M GRUDZIELANEK (.143, 0-FOR-3)
Apr 8 4:13 PM - AL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
DETROIT 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
KANSAS CITY 1 0 1 0 2 5 0 (TOP 5)
CURRENT PITCHERS: DET - JEREMY BONDERMAN
KAN - BRANDON DUCKWORTH
DUE UP FOR DETROIT: C GUILLEN (.222, 1-FOR-1)
I RODRIGUEZ (.333, 0-FOR-1)
S CASEY (.214, 0-FOR-1)
Apr 8 3:14 PM - AL
AT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY MARK TEAHEN SCORED TONY PENA JR.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, M TEAHEN ON FIRST, D DEJESUS ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: DETROIT 0
KANSAS CITY 2 BOTTOM, 3RD
DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: E BROWN (.167, 0-FOR-1)
Tigers vs. RoyalsApr 8 2:56 PM - AL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
DETROIT 0 0 0 1 0
KANSAS CITY 1 1 1 0 (BOT 2)
CURRENT PITCHERS: DET - JEREMY BONDERMAN
KAN - BRANDON DUCKWORTH
DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: A GORDON (.067, 0 HR, 0 RBI)
R SANDERS (.750, 1 HR, 2 RBI)
R SHEALY (.000, 0 HR
Apr 8 2:29 PM - AL
AT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY MARK TEAHEN (1) TO RIGHT WITH 2 OUT IN THE
1ST OFF JEREMY BONDERMAN.
CURRENT SCORE: DETROIT 0, KANSAS CITY 1
DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: E BROWN (.182, 0 HR, 0 RBI)
Tigers vs. RoyalsApr 8 2:20 PM
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