<table> </table> The possibility remains that this is only temporary relief, a sip of water that hardly breaks up a long struggle through the desert.</p><p>Whatever. The Royals will take it: a 7-3 win over the Tigers on Sunday, their first win in eight games, and all of Detroit&#8217;s mistakes that led to it.</p><p>Weird game, too, and not just because two fans in the Crown Seats wearing Emil Brown jerseys watched the .235-hitting Esteban German take his first intentional walk in more than a thousand big-league plate appearances and Kenny Rogers throw a wild pitch that bounced over the netting and into the seats behind home plate.</p><p>&#8220;First time I&#8217;ve seen that,&#8221; the Royals&#8217; Mike Aviles said. &#8220;Never. We got some of those bounces today, which is nice, because that hasn&#8217;t happened in a while.&#8221;</p><p>Ten days, to be exact, since the Royals&#8217; last win &#8212; also under bizarre circumstances when they scored the winning run on a wild pitch by Mariano Rivera and got the last out on a pickoff.</p><p>This one was strange, too. Aviles scored the go-ahead run on Rogers&#8217; souvenir wild pitch. They added some insurance later when Joey Gathright was too fast for a rundown after being caught between third and home.</p><p>Oh, there were well-earned highlights from the Royals, too. Brandon Duckworth was solid, if not spectacular, in his emergency start, giving up three runs in five innings. Jos&#233; Guillen crushed a change-up 418 feet over the left-field wall. Alberto Callaspo had three hits and a perfect relay throw to get Magglio Ordo&#241;ez at the plate.</p><p>Those successes, combined with persistent failures from the Tigers, helped overcome some sloppiness by the Royals. Mark Teahen took an error when his throw allowed Curtis Granderson to escape a rundown, but Granderson would&#8217;ve been safe anyway because nobody covered third base.</p><p>And Duckworth pitched behind in the count to 15 of the first 21 batters he faced, allowing three runs in the first two innings before settling down and letting the bullpen throw four more scoreless innings.</p><p>&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t the prettiest of lines, and the prettiest of things,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But I was able to calm down a little bit, make some pitches so it didn&#8217;t get too out of hand. Guys were making good plays. Just to hold them right there was good.&#8221;</p><p>If the Royals were sloppy, the Tigers were sloppier, another disappointment for a $138 million payroll that&#8217;s underperformed this season. Ordo&#241;ez misplayed an out into a double in right, Marcus Thames did the same in left. They had Gathright caught between third and home but let him score anyway.</p><p>And Rogers allowed seven runs for the fourth time this season.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s one you got to nail down,&#8221; Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. &#8220;We win the first two games, and up three, you feel good. We got the yips out there for some reason. It happens.&#8221;</p><p>None of that matters to the Royals, of course. They lost 14 of their previous 16 and hadn&#8217;t won in more than a week.</p><p>Overcoming a three-run deficit makes it sweet. Being able to hold a four-run lead with a lockdown performance by Joakim Soria &#8212; his first dominating outing in two weeks &#8212; makes it even better.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s the first time in a long time, feels like months, since we&#8217;ve had a four-run lead,&#8221; Hillman said.</p><p>The seven runs were the team&#8217;s most in three weeks. The three runs allowed are the fewest in eight days. Yeah, it&#8217;s been that bad.</p><p>After the game, the music played in the home clubhouse for the first time in two weeks. But it wasn&#8217;t too loud, Kanye West&#8217;s &#8220;Good Life&#8221; appropriately playing at a softer volume until the Royals figure out if this is real.</p><p>If you&#8217;re a glass-half-full kind of fan &#8212; and with the Royals, don&#8217;t you have to be? &#8212; there may be a little more water in the desert.</p><p>Gil Meche and Zack Greinke start the first two games against the struggling Rangers in a series that starts today.</p><p>&#8220;It definitely feels like the end of a long losing streak because we won,&#8221; said outfielder David DeJesus. &#8220;But we&#8217;ve got to keep working.&#8221;</p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> <strong><span class="infobox-head">Rangers at Royals </span></strong><br /> <strong>&#8226;WHEN: </strong>7:10 tonight</p><p><strong>&#8226;TV/RADIO: </strong>FSNKC, KCSP (610 AM).</p><p></div> <hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> @ Go to <strong>KansasCity.com </strong> for Royals updates and Sam Mellinger&#8217;s Ball Star blog.</p><p></div>