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School Day at the K. That always means lots of noise. But the Royals provided lots to scream about Thursday by completing a three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers with an 8-4 victory.
Royals manager Trey Hillman, with 17 games to go in a 20-games-in-20-days stretch, shook up his lineup by resting four regulars. The patchwork unit responded by collecting 13 hits, including at least one from every starter.
“We had some luck,” Hillman admitted. “But we created some momentum by putting people on base so we were in position to do that. That was good to see. We got some key hits. Whether they were hard hits or lucky really doesn’t matter to me.”
Billy Butler opened the scoring with a two-run double in the first inning. José Guillen capped a 13-for-30 home stand by getting his fourth homer and driving in three runs. Miguel Olivo had two doubles, while Tony Peña and Alberto Callaspo each had a pair of singles.
The Royals jumped to leads of 3-0 after one inning and 7-1 after four as the generation-next crowd of 34,734 roared its approval.
“It was nice,” first baseman Billy Butler said, “wasn’t it?”
The Royals, 19-21, have won four in a row for the first time all season and now own two three-game sweeps over the Tigers. The victory and sweep salvaged a 5-5 home stand and precedes an 11-game road trip that begins tonight in Florida.
“This game is crazy,” Peña said. “Last weekend, we couldn’t do anything right (in losing three of four) against Baltimore. You have those ups and downs. So you keep grinding.”
Royals starter Gil Meche, 3-5, scrambled at times and engaged in some “spirited” discussions with Hillman regarding his aggressiveness in attacking hitters.
“It’s just a matter of him getting in a groove,” Hillman said, “where he can not only locate his pitches, but let all his pitches go.
“I think he’s searching a little bit, but you know what? At the end of the day, a guy goes out there and searches a little bit and only gives up three runs and six hits to that lineup … that’s a pretty good day.”
Meche posted his fifth “quality start” in nine outings and nudged his ERA under 6.00 to 5.98. He also admitted he “turned it up a little bit” after Hillman’s prompting.
“I threw more fastballs than I have in a long time,” Meche said, “I just have to go out there and pitch deep into games. Today, I did it.”
The Royals roughed up Detroit veteran Kenny Rogers, who has beaten them more times — 20 — than any other active pitcher. He is also, notably, the active leader in losses with 18, including five in a row.
Rogers, 3-4, lasted four innings and yielded seven runs and 11 hits.
“We attacked Kenny today better than I felt like Kenny attacked us,” Hillman said. “We were disciplined, yet we were not passive, we were aggressive in the zone.”
Bert Blyleven holds the distinction of the most victories and most losses in a career against the Royals at 34-22 during 1970-92. Rogers is tied for fifth in the all-time victory list and ranks third in career losses.
The Tigers stirred in the later innings by getting single runs in the fifth and seventh against Meche and another in the eighth against reliever Joel Peralta. But the Royals blunted the comeback with Guillen’s RBI single against Todd Jones in their eighth.
That extra run ensured closer Joakim Soria remained in the bullpen after pitching in each of the last three games. Ramon Ramirez closed out the sweep with a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation.
Bob Dutton's vlog | Royals 8, Tigers 4 
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