Gil Meche provided enough pitching to keep the Tigers at bay, and the bullpen finished it off, winning this one, and completing the second sweep of the Tigers this year. The offense was also hot, including another double-digit hits mark with 13. They really roughed them up pretty good.
Meche went 7 innings, giving up 6 hits, 3 earned runs, and striking out 6 as well. Even though Detroit scored 3 runs, they were spread out over three innings, and never really seemed to be a threat. Granted, I am sure he wishes he could have had some of those pitches back, but the outcome I am sure he wouldn’t change.
The offense seemd to have its way with the Detroit starter today, Kenny Rogers (or the gambler, as he is known), shelling him for 11 hits (one of them a homer in 4th inning off the bat of Guillen), and 7 runs, all charged to Rogers. They started off quickly in the 1st inning, scoring 3 runs, and followed it in the 2nd with a pair of runs. For some reason they took the 3rd inning off, but came back in the 4th scoring 2 runs again. You get the drift. By this point the game was in control, and the sweep was only innings away.
Something to notice again was the number of players left on base. Don’t get me wrong, a win is a win, but if the Royals plan on turning the corner, and start winning some of those tight games that they were losing before, then it might change some of those previous loses into wins down the road.
Things are looking a lot brighter for this club, despite some rocky stretches the last couple of weeks. They have pulled away from Detroit in the Central, and only trail the league leader Cleveland by 2.5 games. When this series started the Royals had a dismal record of 16-21, but thanks to a sweep here in Kansas City of the Detroit Tigers, they are now looking at a fairly respectable 19-21. A great showing in this series, the second 3 game sweep of the Tigers this season.