Royals, Tigers Keep Streaking

The Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers are finding it difficult to believe what has happened to them in the first 10 days of the season.

The Royals improved to 7-0, getting a home run and three runs batted in from Raul Ibanez in a 4-2 victory over the winless Tigers on Thursday at Detroit.

“This is a lot of fun,” Ibanez said. “It is still early, so things are magnified if you are doing well or doing poorly, but when you can string a bunch of victories together like this, you are definitely going to enjoy it.”

Miguel Asencio (1-0) gave up one unearned run in five innings for the Royals.

The Tigers (0-8) matched the 1962-63 New York Mets as the only teams to lose their first eight games in back-to-back seasons.

New York 2, Minnesota 0 -- David Wells pitched a three-hitter and Hideki Matsui delivered a two-run double to help the Yankees win at New York for their fourth victory in a row. The Yankees improved to 8-1, their best start since posting the same record to open the 1988 season.

Boston 8, Toronto 7 -- Johnny Damon homered twice and Trot Nixon drove in four runs to help the Red Sox win at Toronto and break the Blue Jays’ five-game winning streak. Damon had three hits, three runs batted in and three runs scored.

Texas 5, Oakland 4 -- Carl Everett hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning and Mark Teixeira hit his first major league home run to help the Rangers break a nine-game losing streak against the Athletics with a victory at Arlington, Texas.

Chicago 7, Cleveland 2 -- Mark Buehrle gave up five hits over seven innings and Magglio Ordonez homered for the White Sox at Cleveland. Buehrle (2-1) extended his scoreless innings streak to 18 before giving up a run with two outs in the sixth.

Baltimore 4, Tampa Bay 3 -- David Segui delivered a tiebreaking RBI-single in the eighth and Sidney Ponson gave up three runs over seven innings for the Orioles at St. Petersburg, Fla.