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Wednesday, May 10 1:05pm ET
Tigers cure Royals' road woes | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
DETROIT (AP) -- The Kansas City Royals might not have baseball's worst road record if they could spend more time in Detroit. That's because the Tigers have trouble winning anywhere. Rookie Chris Fussell kept the Tigers off balance for six innings as the Royals beat Detroit 6-0 Wednesday. The Tigers, who have been shut out six times, matched their worst 32-game start in 47 years. "It's eating at everybody," Detroit's Dean Palmer said. "It seems like the harder we try, the worse it gets." The Royals, with an AL-best 14-4 home record, are 4-11 on the road after winning a pair in Comerica Park. Tuesday night's game was rained out after 2 2-3 innings with the Tigers leading 3-0. "It was just good for us to get a win," said Jorge Fabregas, who had two hits, scored two runs and drove in another. "We had a nine-game losing streak on the road, so it was nice to come in and end it with two wins here." The loss dropped the Tigers to 9-23, matching their starts in 1920, 1925, 1952 and 1953. The 1953 club also lost its next game, falling to 9-24. These Tigers will have to wait until Friday to see if they drop that far. They're off Thursday before opening a weekend series against the World Series champion New York Yankees. "We've got guys that can hit," said Tony Clark, who had two of Detroit's four hits. "They say hitting is contagious. Well, not hitting seems to be just as contagious. That's what's happening to us right now." Fussell (3-1), recalled from Triple-A Omaha last week, limited the Tigers to two hits in six innings. Pitching before a large contingent of family and friends from nearby Oregon, Ohio, Fussell had four walks and four strikeouts. "It's not any added pressure when you've been pitching in front of them your whole life," said Fussell, a Tigers' fan when he was growing up. Jerry Spradlin threw two perfect innings in relief for the Royals, and Jay Witasick pitched the ninth. Jermaine Dye reached over the wall in foul territory along the right-field line grab a fly ball off Palmer's bat to end the game. "Hopefully, we can take this to Cleveland with us," Fabregas said. Hideo Nomo (1-2) allowed six runs, eight hits and three walks in 6 2-3 innings. Kansas City took a 2-0 lead in the third, thanks in part to a throwing error by Nomo. Fabregas singled and was sacrificed to second by Luis Ordaz. Fabregas, who had to stay put on Johnny Damon's infield single, moved up on an infield single by Carlos Febles. Nomo, from a poor angle, threw the ball wildly at first trying to get Febles, allowing Fabregas to score. Mike Sweeney singled Damon home. "As soon as we got down 2-0, you could almost see it coming," Detroit manager Phil Garner said. "We're just not hitting the ball good." Kansas City made it 6-0 with four runs in the seventh on an RBI single by Fabregas, an RBI grounder by Febles and bases-loaded walks to Dye and Carlos Beltran by Matt Anderson. Detroit, which has scored just two runs in its last four games -- including an 11-inning loss -- loaded the bases against Fussell with one out in the second but failed to score. The Tigers, shut out a major-league high 12 times last season, didn't get a runner past second base after that. "It's part of baseball," Royals manager Tony Muser said. "It happens. They'll come out of it." Game notesBeltran turned his back to the plate and made a nice run to haul in a long ball off the bat of Luis Polonia in front of the 420-foot sign in center in the first inning. ... Juan Gonzalez, who has been bothered by a sore hamstring and confined to DH duty much of the season, started in right field for the Tigers. Gonzalez, who had started nine straight games at DH, was needed in the outfield because Bobby Higginson started his five-game suspension for the brawl two weeks ago in Chicago, and because Wendell Magee is on the DL with a broken hand. ... A makeup date for Tuesday's rainout has yet to be announced. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Kansas City Clubhouse Detroit Clubhouse RECAPS Kansas City 6 Detroit 0
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