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Miner strong as Tigers top Royals

Aug 24, 2008 - 3:23 AM By Marc Bowman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Miguel Cabrera homered to support seven scoreless innings by Zach Miner as the Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-0, on Saturday.

Miner (7-4) permitted three singles and one walk while striking out three and allowing only one baserunner to advance past first. He retired 15 of the last 16 batters.

In seven starts since joining the Tigers rotation, the 26-year-old righthander is 4-1 with a 2.87 ERA, including a pair of victories at Kauffman Stadium, where he has not allowed a run in five career appearances spanning 18 1/3 innings.

"Good pitching gives you a chance," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "We pitched really good tonight. Zach was getting quick outs and throwing strikes. That keeps everybody fresh."

"You always want to try to get deep into a game, so that was good," Miner said. "I wasn't as sharp tonight as I've been sometimes, but I felt strong. Because I felt a little stronger today, I was able to get away with a few mistakes."

Cabrera continued his torrid second-half power stroke, connecting for a 434-foot solo blast far above the left field

fountains to give the Tigers a 4-0 lead in the sixth.

"It's amazing," Leyland said. "And it happened so fast, too. He hit that one harder than the one last night. It doesn't really matter how far, of course, but that was a bomb."

"This one was harder (hit)," Cabrera agreed. "I'm seeing good pitches and I'm not trying to do too much. I'm swinging the way I want."

His 28th homer gave him 43 RBI in 35 games since the All-Star break and he has registered at least 100 RBI in five straight seasons. He was one of eight active players entering the season with four consecutive seasons of 100 RBI.

"Absolutely," Cabrera said when asked if this one was special. "Because I want to get 100. It feels good to do the same thing here (with Detroit) as I did there (with Florida). You can have good numbers, but getting 100 RBI every year shows consistency."

"Miggy wanted that ball and I might need a ladder to go get it," Leyland said. "He's amazing. One hundred RBI for the fifth straight time is pretty amazing for a guy who's only 25 years old."

The Tigers had built a 3-0 lead with sacrifice flies in the second, fourth and fifth innings by Edgar Renteria, Matt Joyce and Magglio Ordonez, respectively.

"We executed beautifully," Leyland said. "We got the guy on, got him over and got him in. This was really textbook baseball. We got good pitching, a home run, manufactured runs, and we caught the ball, too. That's how you draw it up."

"We're not going to score 10 runs or hit a home run every night," Joyce said. "Manufacturing runs is a big part of the game. We moved guys over and got them in. And Miggy had a big hit tonight. He's a freak of nature and he has so much fun."

Placido Polanco recorded three hits for Detroit, and Gary Sheffield doubled and scored, extending his hitting streak to eight games. Sheffield is hitting .400 on the current road trip as the Tigers have won four of five.

It was Detroit's fifth straight win against Kansas City - all at Kauffman Stadium - after dropping their first six meetings with the Royals.

Kyle Davies (5-5), who was recalled from Omaha on Friday to take Luke Hochevar's place in the Kansas City rotation, pitched six innings, allowing four runs and four hits with four walks while striking out three. The 24-year-old righthander has lost three straight starts as the Royals have lost 14 of 16 since August 5.

"Kyle was more efficient, but I would like to see more command," Kansas City manager Trey Hillman said. "Overall, six out of nine innings their leadoff hitter was on and five of six when Kyle was in the game. It's lucky he didn't run into more damage than he did. He managed his curveball pretty good at times, but he's got to get better."

"Starting pitching is about getting the first guy out," Davies said. "To start an inning, you have to get them out or they are going to score some runs. From the windup I couldn't get my fastball to come in. When I got to the stretch, everything felt great."

Continuing a trend, the Royals had no extra-base hits. During their seven-game losing streak - matching their second longest skid of the year - Kansas City has collected 14 extra-base hits while surrendering 30, including being outhomered 17-2.

"We're having a consistently poor approach (at the plate)," Hillman said. "We need to get better pitches to hit and we need to unload on better pitches. We were ahead in the count a few times and tried to force things instead of letting them happen."