KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ The Detroit Tigers got the big inning they needed.
Then, the bullpen blew up. And then, for the first time in what has been the most trying of early season road trips, the offense punched back.
After the embattled Francisco Rodriguez coughed up a late lead, the Tigers took it to former teammate Joakim Soria in the top of the eighth inning to take their biggest win of the season to date.
In the eighth, down two runs, they scored four runs on four hits and two walks. The biggest: Alex Presley singling to tie the game and after Nick Castellanos scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch, Miguel Cabrera singled home two more. They beat the Royals, 10-7, Monday at Kauffman Stadium.
It was the most opportune of wins, what with a road trip threatening to spiral even further out of control, especially given a bullpen performance that bent and broke.
The Tigers' offense finally broke through in a big way with a six-run fifth inning. They trailed by three runs at the time, but closed the gap when Royals right-hander Jason Hammel lost his command, loading the bases and walking home a run.
Royals manager Ned Yost hooked Hammel for Mike Minor, which proved to be the wrong move.
On Minor's first pitch, Victor Martinez doubled down the third base line to tie the game. Then, J.D. Martinez hit his eighth home run of the season, a three-run bomb into the left-field seats. The six-run fifth inning was a surprise only in that the Tigers had been swinging the bats so sluggishly as of late: After a good night's sleep arriving in Kansas City, the team appeared loose and fresh before Monday's game.
Left-hander Daniel Norris, who was OK over the first four innings, pitched a clean fifth inning. He threw five innings, allowing three runs on six hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
But with Royals righty hitters on the horizon, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus opted to pull Norris after the fifth. That _ like Yost's earlier move _ proved incorrect.
With Norris out, Shane Greene _ so solid as of late _ came on and immediately fell into trouble, loading the bases with one out. Ausmus went to lefty Blaine Hardy, who walked in a run and allowed a sacrifice fly to pull the Royals within a run.
Without a lead and no desire to try and stretch three innings out of back-end men Alex Wilson and Justin Wilson, Ausmus went to Rodriguez in the seventh.
It went predictably: Rodriguez issued a walk and then a two-run home run to Eric Hosmer, his fifth homer allowed to a lefty this season. It was a go-ahead shot.
But the Tigers responded quickly against Soria the next inning. Justin Upton singled, Castellanos walked and Presley tied the game. Castellanos took the lead on a wild pitch from Soria and after Yost hooked him, Cabrera smacked a liner up the middle for sufficient insurance.
The Tigers' bullpen would not blow up again: Alex Wilson pitched a perfect eighth inning and Justin Wilson picked up his fourth save in the ninth inning.
With the much-needed win, the Tigers sit three games under the .500 mark (24-27) with an opportunity over the next couple of days to turn a rather awful road trip into a respectable one.
