Royals Are a Pain for the Tigers

Even losing their starting pitcher after three innings to a blister couldn’t slow down the Kansas City Royals.

Albie Lopez pitched five scoreless innings in relief of Jeremy Affeldt as Kansas City beat Detroit, 9-2, Saturday at Kansas City, Mo., to hand the Tigers their 15th loss in 16 games this season.

Desi Relaford homered and Raul Ibanez had a two-run single in a five-run third inning for the Royals, who improved to 7-0 at Kauffman Stadium this season and are the last remaining undefeated team at home in the majors. Their 13-3 start is the best in club history after 16 games.

Lopez (3-0) was a big reason why, shutting out the Tigers on one hit to get the win.

“Albie came through big,” Royal Manager Tony Pena said. “We were short today in the bullpen and he came through and saved our bullpen. He didn’t make too many pitches, throwing first-pitch strikes.”

The Tigers are 0-4 against Kansas City this season and are off to the worst start in franchise history and the worst in baseball since the Royals went 1-16 in 1992.

New York 4, Minnesota 2 -- Bernie Williams hit a two-run homer and Raul Mondesi hit a solo shot as the Yankees won at Minneapolis.

Andy Pettitte (3-0) pitched 7 1/3 innings to run the rotation’s record to 12-0 -- the longest season-opening streak in the last 50 years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. New York is off to a franchise-best 14-3 start.

The Yankees also beat the Twins for the 11th consecutive time over the last two seasons, outhomering Minnesota, 25-2, in that span.

Boston 7, Toronto 2 -- Trot Nixon and Todd Walker each drove in two runs during the Red Sox’s five-run third inning at Boston in winning their sixth in a row. Toronto has lost three games in a row and nine of 10. The Blue Jays, who entered as the AL’s worst fielding team, committed three errors that led to three unearned runs.

Chicago 12, Cleveland 3 -- Rookie Josh Stewart got his first major league win and D’Angelo Jimenez had four hits at Chicago as the White Sox scored six unearned runs in the first off Brian Anderson (2-2). Jimenez had two hits in the opening inning and drove in three runs. Magglio Ordonez homered in the fourth and extended his hitting streak to 15 games, longest in the AL this season.

Tampa Bay 8, Baltimore 7 -- Jorge Sosa (1-1) gave up three hits in five innings at Baltimore to become the first Tampa Bay starting pitcher to win a game this season as the Devil Rays hung on to beat the Orioles. Tampa Bay starters hadn’t recorded a victory in the first 16 games. That’s the deepest into the season since the 1992 Kansas City Royals, who didn’t get one until their 18th game.