The Royals frustration was double on Sunday, as they dropped both games of a double header with the Tigers. They fell in the first game 8-7 and lost the night-cap 1-0.
In game one, they overcame two deficits only to fall in the ninth inning. Detroit jumped out to a 4-0 lead against starter Mike Wood in the first inning. Magglio Ordonez drove in a run with a single and Rondell White hit a three-run homer to cap the rally.
In the third inning, the Royals trailed 5-1—their first run came off an RBI double by Matt Stairs in the bottom of the first—when David DeJesus hit an inside-the-park home run off Tigers’ starter Jason Johnson to make it 5-2.
Kansas City tied the game at 5-5 in the fourth inning thanks to a two-run triple from Mark Teahen and an RBI single from Angel Berroa.
It remained 5-5 until Craig Monroe blasted a solo homer off of Wood in the sixth and in the seventh Vance Wilson gave Detroit a 7-5 lead with a solo home run.
Kansas City re-tied the game in the seventh inning, when Stairs drove in his second run of the game with a single and Emil Brown drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
In the ninth reliever Ambiorix Burgos gave up the winning run when he allowed an RBI double to Omar Infante.
The Royals were unable to capitalize on a single from Chip Ambres in the bottom of the ninth and suffered their 14th straight loss. Burgos got the loss.
In game two, the Royals fell 1-0 and wasted a complete-game, five-hitter from Jose Lima (4-11). Brad Inge drove in the game’s only run, when he hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Dmitri Young.
The Royals also managed just five hits on the evening, but they did have chances to score. Along with those five hits, the Royals also drew two walks and had one batter hit by a pitch, putting runners on base in every inning but the second and seventh.
Mike Maroth (10-11) pitched 8 2/3’s inning for the win.
It was Kansas City’s 15th straight defeat, which is the longest skid in the majors this season. The last team to drop 15 in a row was Tampa Bay in 2002. The next-longest streak in the last 30 years belongs to the Orioles, who lost 21 in a row—that’s an American League record.