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Butler, Teahen help Royals end skid

Aug 31, 2008 - 4:26 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Billy Butler did everything he could to help the Kansas City Royals get in the win column.

Butler homered twice and drove in four runs as the Royals halted a four-game slide with a 13-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.

With the contest tied at 2-2, the Royals surged ahead with a four-run rally in the sixth that was highlighted by Butler's second blast of the game, a three-run shot to left field off Kenny Rogers (9-12). It capped the first career multi-homer effort for Butler, who also launched a solo shot in the second.

"It was a big night," Butler said. "We needed to put up some runs. We've got the offensive power to do it, and we showed it tonight."

Mark Teahen belted a solo homer in the fifth and ignited a five-run eighth with an RBI double for Kansas City, which had lost 11 of its previous 12 games and 18 of 21.

Brandon Duckworth (2-0) benefited from the outburst, picking up his second win in as many starts this season - both against Detroit. The righthander tossed six serviceable innings, allowing three runs and seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

"I had command of all my pitches," Duckworth said. "I'm pleased. I thought it could be better (after my first start), and it was."

"He did a good job of damage control," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "They had those leadoff triples (in the first and third innings), but they really didn't hurt us."

Rogers suffered his sixth loss in seven outings, surrendering six runs and eight hits in six frames. The veteran lefthander walked two and struck out four.

"It was very disappointing that I just couldn't locate my pitches," Rogers said. "I didn't do enough to stop the damage. That's just the way it goes sometimes."

"He put up a pretty good fight until the sixth," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "A couple of solo homers, but (he) kept us in the game until then."

Curtis Granderson doubled, tripled and scored a run for the Tigers, who have lost five of six.

Granderson scored the game's first run in the opening inning on Magglio Ordonez's double-play grounder, but Butler knotted the contest with his eighth homer a frame later. After Ordonez gave the Tigers a 2-1 edge with an RBI groundout in the third, Teahen drew the Royals even with his 12th blast.

David DeJesus hit a run-scoring single in the the sixth before Butler capped his two-homer effort for a 6-2 bulge. Alberto Callaspo delivered an RBI single in the seventh and Kansas City broke open the game in the eighth.

"In the sixth, I just couldn't make my pitches," Rogers said. "It was the turning point of the game."

Two batters after Teahen recorded his RBI double, Ross Gload drove him in with a single. Joey Gathright followed with a run-scoring base hit off Nate Robertson, and Mike Aviles greeted Casey Fossum with a two-run double to complete the uprising.

"We had some better at-bats," Hillman said. "The offensive output helped."

"We just made bad pitches and couldn't stop the bleeding," Leyland said.