Royals Win Series in Detroit

Game Date: July 22, 2007
Royals 5, Tigers 2 / Box Score
WP: Bannister (6-6), LP: Robertson (6-7)
Royal Home Runs: German (3)
Royals Record: 43-54

A 5-4 road trip with stops in Cleveland, Boston, and Detroit ought to make the average Royals fan ecstatic. Those three teams are a combined 57 games over .500 right now and with the big win in Detroit today, the Royals have caught the Chicago White Sox for fourth place in the AL Central. It's hard to get excited about fourth place, but who would have thought we even had a chance before the season started?

Brian Bannister pitched a great game today, going seven innings and giving up just one earned run on four hits and a walk. This was just what the bullpen needed. David Riske and Octavio Dotel finished off the Tigers--although the Tigers made things interesting against Dotel in the bottom of the ninth.

The Royals fell behind early when Craig Monroe hit a solo home run in the third, but they came back in the fourth--scraping three runs together on an infield single by Reggie Sanders and two sacrifice flies by Tony Pena and Emil Brown. Esteban German hit a solo home run in the seventh and David DeJesus singled in Mark Teahen during that same inning to give the Royals a 5-1 lead.

Mark Grudzielanek continued his hot streak, going 4-for-5 and raising his average to .300. German had two hits. So did David DeJesus.

The Royals return home to begin a four game series tomorrow night against the evil Yankees. Odalis Perez (5-8, 5.84) goes up against Roger Clemens (2-4, 4.88). Perez is 0-1 in his career against the evil Yankees with a 15.43 ERA. Clemens is 20-6 against the Royals with a 2.15 ERA.