Royals too much for big-spending Tigers

DETROIT -- Money can’t buy wins. Just ask the Detroit Tigers.

Tony Pena Jr. hit a two-out, tiebreaking single in the 11th inning and the frugal Kansas City Royals held on to beat the big-spending Tigers, 5-4, in Monday’s opener and give Trey Hillman a win in his major league debut as manager.

Detroit closer Todd Jones said a team’s payroll is “totally” irrelevant on any given day.

“But the beauty of baseball is it’s all about the long haul, not one game,” Jones said. “Hopefully with the kind of talent we have, we’ll find a way to grind out more wins than other people.”

Hillman made the right moves and his players executed in the field to rally from a three-run deficit and hold off a late comeback.

“This is pretty cool for me,” said Hillman, successful as a manager in Japan. “It’s a great honor, it’s humbling.”

The Tigers will spend about $138 million on their star-studded team. Kansas City, meanwhile, will try to compete with a payroll of approximately $58 million.

“I don’t think we’ll win most of the time just because our payroll is big,” Detroit Manager Jim Leyland said. “We just left some guys on base and we left a couple pitches up.”

The Tigers stranded 10 runners, including Clete Thomas, who was on third base with only one out in the 11th.

Joakim Soria got out of the jam and earned the save by striking out Edgar Renteria and getting help from third baseman Alex Gordon, who snared Placido Polanco’s grounder in the hole and threw him out.