Greinke goes to 8-1 as Royals beat Tigers 6-1

[May 27, 2009]  KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Zack Greinke struck out eight while pitching his fifth complete game and Mitch Maier drove in three runs after coming off the bench, leading the Kansas City Royals past the Detroit Tigers 6-1 Tuesday night.

Greinke (8-1), who leads the majors in ERA, complete games and shutouts (two), allowed six hits and one first-inning run. For the rest of the night, his varied assortment of 98 mph fastballs and corner-biting breaking pitches dealt nothing but zeros to a Detroit lineup that scored 13 runs the day before.

Greinke threw a season-high 116 pitches and did not allow a walk while his ERA rose from 0.82 to 0.84. In two starts against the first-place Tigers this year, he has allowed one earned run in two complete-game wins.

Jose Guillen had two RBIs, including a solo home run off Brandon Lyon in the eighth, as the Royals won for the second time in seven games.

Edwin Jackson (4-3), who had won three straight starts, went 6 1-3 innings and gave up four runs, two of which were unearned because of his two throwing errors to first.

Jackson had allowed only one baserunner until Miguel Olivo singled up the middle leading off the sixth. He then threw wildly to first on Luis Hernandez's sacrifice bunt, putting runners at second and third. Maier, who came into the game in the fifth when center fielder Coco Crisp went out with a sore shoulder, put the Royals on top 2-1 with a two-run single.

Billy Butler singled and Guillen's RBI single put the Royals up 3-1. In the seventh, Alberto Callaspo singled leading off and sped to second when Jackson threw wildly to first on an attempted pickoff. Hernandez's single put him at third and he slid under catcher Gerald Laird's sweeping tag to make it 4-1 on Maier's grounder to first baseman Miguel Cabrera. Olivo's grounder brought in a second run in the eighth.

The Tigers jumped on Greinke in the first inning for only the seventh earned run the right-hander has allowed in nine starts covering 75 innings.

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Placido Polanco doubled with one out and came home on an RBI single by Magglio Ordonez that stretched his hitting streak to 11 games.

Notes: Tigers' play-by-play announcer Dan Dickerson missed the broadcast after injuring himself while jogging near the team hotel. ... Detroit trainer Kevin Rand said an MRI on the right shoulder of Carlos Guillen revealed "no major structural damage." Guillen, the Tigers' All-Star representative last season, has been on the disabled list since May 5. ... Detroit RHP Jeremy Bonderman went six innings, allowing seven hits and three runs, in a rehab start for Triple-A Toledo against Norfolk.

[Associated Press; By DOUG TUCKER]

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