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Bannister helps Royals beat Tigers in opener

Aug 29, 2007 - 5:21 AM By Marc Bowman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- The Detroit Tigers' struggles against division opponents continued Tuesday as they dropped a 6-3 contest to the Kansas City Royals.

The Tigers have lost 12 of their last 17 games against American League Central rivals and are 8-12 in the division since the All-Star break while losing four games in the standings.

Despite pounding out 16 hits, Detroit (71-61) tied a season high by leaving 13 runners on base - including eight in scoring position - as they fell 3 1/2 games behind first-place Cleveland (74-57) in the AL Central.

"We got a lot of hits, and they got timely ones," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "When we get 16 hits, normally a couple go over the fence. I think we were trying a little too hard to expand the strike zone when we had the pitcher in trouble."

"We were living on the edge all night long," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "But sometimes you have to give the pitchers credit for making the pitches when they had to."

Kansas City starter Brian Bannister (11-7) pitched out of the stretch most of the night to earn his sixth win in eight starts. The righthander gave up two runs and a season-high 11 hits with five strikeouts in six innings.

"All the things I normally get guys out with, they weren't swinging at," Bannister said. "They wore me out. There was no room to breathe out there. These guys are right up there with Boston, New York, Seattle. They are so well-balanced with lefthanded and righthanded hitters, it's hard to find a style of pitching against them."

"We had Bannister on the ropes, but he made the pitches when he had to," Leyland said. "Give him credit."

In the fourth inning, Alex Gordon broke a scoreless tie with a two-out, three-run double off Tigers starter Nate Robertson (7-11).

"We couldn't come up with hits the first time through," Gordon said. "The second time through, we got some balls to hit."

"It was nice to get the three when we did," Bell said. "We got the big hits when we needed them."

After Mark Grudzielanek led off the frame with a base hit, Ross Gload singled and John Buck worked a 10-pitch walk to load the bases. Gordon then laced a 2-1 pitch down the right field line to plate all three.

"Buck had a great at-bat," Robertson said. "He fought off a lot of pitches, then Gordon hit a slider down the line. You've got to trust yourself to get your command back."

"He kept throwing borderline pitches, too close to take," Buck said. "He was sinking it, cutting it. He wasn't throwing anything straight. I was trying to foul off the borderline pitches. The pitch I took (for ball four) was probably the closest."

With one out in the fifth, Grudzielanek's single over a drawn-in infield scored Esteban German. Billy Butler hit a two-run home run on the next pitch to stretch the Royals lead to 6-1 and drive Robertson from the game.

"I think you're going to see more of that," Bell said. "Billy really gave us some separation with that."

"You've got to do it against that team," Butler said. "They're loaded one through nine. That could easily have gotten out of hand with as many runners as they had."

In 4 1/3 innings, Robertson allowed six hits and six runs, walking four and striking out two for his fifth loss in his last six decisions.

Detroit's Placido Polanco had three hits and an RBI and Magglio Ordonez continued his red-hot August, collecting four singles to raise his average to .359.

"Right now is the point where we can't get any farther back," Ordonez said. "But if we don't win some games, we're going to get farther and farther back. We've got to win now if we are going to get to the playoffs."

"Every day, we have to try to win more games," Polanco said. "As the season goes on, time is getting shorter and shorter, especially if we are chasing."