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Guillen, Teahen help Royals tame Tigers

Aug 24, 2008 - 10:59 PM By Marc Bowman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Brandon Duckworth won his first major league start in over two years as the Kansas City Royals came from behind to beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-3, on Sunday afternoon and salvage the finale of the three-game series.

Duckworth (1-0) was recalled from Class AAA Omaha hours before Sunday's game to make his first start since September 1. It was a successful one as he collected his first win as a starter since beating the Milwaukee Brewers June 24, 2006.

"The first couple of innings Ducky had a lot of hard-hit balls," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "He just didn't have the precision that he needed in the first two innings and he got behind so he had to pitch out over the plate. Five of the first six hitters squared the ball up pretty good and even the outs were hit hard.

"But he made an adjustment. The thing that he did exceptionally well was pitch to both sides of the plate. He was aggressive to more of the plate and let the movement take care of itself."

Despite allowing 10 baserunners over the first three innings, the 32-year-old righthander survived five innings by stranding five, including four in scoring position. Duckworth allowed three runs, seven hits and four walks without recording a strikeout.

"It wasn't the best of (pitching) lines," Duckworth said. "But the guys made some great plays behind me today and we capitalized with runners in scoring position and got the win. Today I would have liked to have gone longer in the game, but a win's a win. It seems like a long time for me."

With the Royals trailing, 3-0, Jose Guillen led off the second inning with his 17th homer. Later in the frame, Mark Teahen's sacrifice fly trimmed the deficit to one.

"It felt OK, but we were still behind," Guillen said. "We have not been doing the little things we need to win. We're not a good team, fundamentally. We don't run the bases well and we don't move the runners over. We did that today, but to win games you have to do that consistently."

Esteban German's sacrifice fly in the fifth knotted the contest before Kenny Rogers' wild pitch later in the inning allowed Mike Aviles to score the go-ahead run.

Kansas City took advantage of fielding mistakes to add to its lead the next inning, with Joey Gathright scoring on a fielder's choice when shortstop Edgar Renteria threw to the wrong base.

"The ball was hit really hard, and Joey hesitated a bit, but that's not an easy situation," Hillman said. "I don't think we have anybody else who can score on that play."

After a botched potential double-play grounder, Teahen delivered a two-run single to increase the Royals' lead to 7-3.

"We've finally gotten some hits in timely situations," Teahen said. "We started swinging the bats and got the hits when we needed to. This year has been a grind for me. I'm hoping I can finish up strong, but it was a good day at the park for us."

With the triumph, Kansas City snapped a seven-game losing streak and a five-game home skid against Detroit. Over the last three seasons, the Tigers have won 20 of 27 contests at Kauffman Stadium.

"We gave them too many outs," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "You can't do that. This is the big leagues. We gave them too many outs and we didn't add on when we had the chance."

Detroit drew first blood on Magglio Ordonez's RBI single in the first inning, then added a pair of runs on Placido Polanco's two-out, base hit in the second.

Rogers (9-11) worked six innings, allowing seven runs, eight hits and four walks while striking out four. The 43-year-old lefthander has dropped five of his last six starts.

"Today the (offensive) focus was there and what we unloaded on was much better," Hillman said. "Just the fact that we saw more pitches made a big difference against a veteran pitcher like Kenny."