It seemed like a tale of two games on Wednesday evening at Kauffman Stadium, as far as the Royals are concerned. Kansas City seemed in good position to take a two-game sweep from the Tigers with Felipe Paulino on the mound. He didn't have particularly great stuff, but he was effective allowing just two runs on six hits through five innings. Paulino struck out eight, but came out due to a high pitch count of 103.
After Detroit got a run in the first on a Victor Martinez RBI single, the Royals answered with two in the bottom frame on RBI doubles by Billy Butler and Jeff Francoeur.
Martinez would come through with another RBI in the fifth inning as the Tigers knotted the score at 2.
Kansas City took the lead again in the bottom of the sixth on a Butler single that score Melky Cabrera after right fielder Ryan Raburn bobbled the ball in right field, allowing Cabrera to come around to score from second base.
Again it was Martinez knotting the score at 3 in the seventh on a single against Royals reliever Louis Coleman. He finished the game 2-for-5 with three runs batted in.
Rookie reliever Kelvin Herrera made his debut in the eighth and certainly had a debut in front of the home fans that he would like to forget, as he allowed three runs on two hits. The dagger seemingly was Don Kelly's two-run home run which extended a one run lead to the 6-3 final. For Kelly it was his sixth home run of the year. Herrera took the loss.
Pacing the way at the plate for Kansas City was Butler and Salvador Perez both having two hits each. The club totaled nine as a team.
The Royals finish the season with a 40-41 home record and head to Chicago to face the White Sox before heading to Detroit to close out the season. The team now sits at 68-88 overall.