I’m not sure what it is about the series opener, but the Royals have won both of them so far. It’s the other four games they’ve had a hard time with. With the AL champ Tigers in town, the Royals put together some nice pitching and some timely hitting to walk away with Friday’s game. Jorge de la Rosa gave up just a single run on four hits in seven innings of work and the Royals scored two in the seventh to walk away with a 3-1 win. David DeJesus went two for four with a run and an RBI while Tony Pena, Jr. continued his hot hitting with another triple in a game he went two for three in.
Then the Royals hit a wall. On Saturday, Gil Meche was rocked for six runs in seven innings in a 6-5 loss. Reggie Sanders had a nice game in which he went three for four with a homerun, two RBIs and three runs but it wasn’t enough. Then on Sunday, the Royals had the lead for most of the game before David Riske gave up a three run, ninth inning homerun as the Tigers edged the Royals 3-2.
I guess there’s some consolation that the Royals are staying in a lot of these games. They just need to win a few more. Now the Royals hit the road for a three game set against the Blue Jays in their home opener. Odalis Perez will get the start and if the trend continues, the Royals will win this one tonight.