DETROIT (AP) — With his team in need of a victory and an anxious crowd waiting, Joe Nathan took the mound and struck out the last three hitters of the game.

Any win would have meant a lot to the Detroit Tigers, but Nathan’s performance made this one a little more encouraging.

“It was still a matter of just coming to work and trying to get better, trying to figure out what’s going on,” Nathan said. “We’ve been grinding.”

Nathan breezed through the ninth inning, and the Tigers ended Kansas City’s 10-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory over the Royals on Thursday. J.D. Martinez hit a tiebreaking homer in the fourth for the Tigers, who avoided a four-game sweep and pulled within a half-game of the AL Central-leading Royals.

Anibal Sanchez (4-2) allowed five hits and a walk in seven innings, keeping the Kansas City offense quiet even though he failed to strike out a batter. Joba Chamberlain pitched the eighth, and Nathan finished for his 14th save in 18 chances.

Nathan’s ERA is still an unsightly 6.31, but he’s been working with his pitching coach and catchers, and hopes some mechanical tweaking will help. He struck out Billy Butler to start the ninth — the Kansas City designated hitter argued the called third strike — and Salvador Perez then went down swinging. With the crowd on its feet, Nathan fanned Lorenzo Cain to end it.

“That looked like the Joe Nathan I’ve faced for years,” Butler said. “All those times with the Twins and then with Texas — the one with a few hundred saves and all those All-Star games. He’s had some tough moments in his career, but that looked like the same guy today.”

Detroit’s victory came a day after manager Brad Ausmus sarcastically told reporters that he beats his wife when his team isn’t playing well. Ausmus realized immediately his words were in poor taste and apologized, and he apologized again before and after Thursday’s game, saying Wednesday was his worst day since taking over the job before this season.

“I still feel awful about it,” Ausmus said. “There was nothing in my head that I wanted to hurt or offend anyone, and if I did, I still apologize. It was in poor judgment, and it won’t happen again.”

Butler gave the Royals a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the first, but Miguel Cabrera drove in a run with a double of his own in the fourth. Cabrera was tagged out on a bizarre double play when right fielder Nori Aoki caught Victor Martinez’s flyball and threw back to the infield, where Cabrera was nonchalantly returning to second.

Shortstop Alcides Escobar caught the ball and made the tag. Cabrera was initially ruled safe, but the call was overturned on replay.

J.D. Martinez followed with a solo homer to right, his sixth of the year. He now has a nine-game hitting streak, with a .412 average in that span, and he hopes this win will end a stretch in which so much has gone badly for the Tigers. Detroit won for only the 10th time in its last 30 games.

“It’s funny, even talking to the umpires, they even chime in and say it. They’re like, `Dude, everything that’s going wrong just seems to be going wrong for you guys. You guys just got to grind through it,” Martinez said. “You see the breaks that we’ve been getting. We hit the ball hard, it gets caught. We hit it soft, it gets caught. We get on base, the ball goes to the backstop, comes back, gets thrown out, we’re out of an inning. It’s just kind of like, craziness.”

Sanchez went without a strikeout for the first time in his career, but his fielders helped him. Third baseman Nick Castellanos reached over the railing of the Detroit dugout to catch a foul popup in the sixth.

Danny Duffy (4-6) allowed two runs and three hits in seven innings for Kansas City. He walked one and struck out five.

The Royals were without outfielder Alex Gordon, who sat out because of flu-like symptoms. Detroit outfielder Torii Hunter (hamstring) did not play either.

— Associated Press —

DETROIT (AP) — Alex Gordon’s grounder up the middle looked like a routine out — until it hit second base and took a wacky bounce, allowing the game’s first run to score.

With breaks like that, it’s no wonder the Kansas City Royals have won 10 in a row.

Omar Infante added a solo homer and Jeremy Guthrie pitched impressively into the seventh inning, helping the Royals extend their longest winning streak in 20 years with a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday.

Kansas City has outpitched, outhit and outfielded the Tigers in taking the first three games of this series — so the Royals have no reason to apologize for a little luck along the way.

“Baseball’s a funny game — you’ve got to take full advantage of those,” Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer said. “We’re not complaining about it either.”

The AL Central-leading Royals have not won this many games in a row since a run of 14 in 1994. They extended their division lead over the Tigers to 1 1/2 games.

Guthrie (4-6) allowed four hits and struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings. Drew Smyly (3-6) nearly matched him, but the Detroit left-hander was victimized by Gordon’s fluky RBI single in the first inning and Infante’s homer in the fifth.

J.D. Martinez homered off Guthrie in the seventh, but the Kansas City bullpen got the last seven outs, with Greg Holland pitching the ninth for his 21st save in 22 chances.

Kansas City will try for a four-game sweep of the Tigers on Thursday. The Royals began the series by pounding star right-handers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, then Guthrie took the mound and breezed through the team that has won the last three division titles.

“This could be the best game he’s thrown all year,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “He was fabulous. … We had to go back to our old way of doing things — pitching and defense.”

It was Guthrie’s second straight game with nine strikeouts — he also reached the mark June 13 against the Chicago White Sox. He had some help Wednesday from his fielders, as Gordon saved a run in the fourth with a diving catch in left-center.

“I’m not that fast, but I can turn it on when I want to,” the Kansas City left fielder said.

Fortune seemed to favor the Royals throughout the afternoon. With a runner on second in the first, Gordon’s two-out bouncer up the middle looked like a groundout to the shortstop, but it ricocheted off second base for a hit, allowing Hosmer to come home.

In the second, Detroit’s Victor Martinez dropped a nice bunt against a shifted defense, only to have the ball roll foul inches before reaching third base.

J.D. Martinez homered in the seventh, and Nick Castellanos nearly tied it later in the inning with a two-out drive to left that bounced off the fence for a double. Kelvin Herrera relieved Guthrie and retired Don Kelly on a lineout to center.

Wade Davis struck out the side in the eighth, and Holland made it through the ninth after allowing a leadoff single to Miguel Cabrera.

Smyly allowed two runs and seven hits in seven-plus innings. He struck out six without a walk.

The Tigers have lost 20 of 29 to fall out of first place. During his postgame news conference, Detroit manager Brad Ausmus replied sarcastically to a question about how his mood is when he heads home after these tough defeats.

“I beat my wife,” Ausmus said, clearly trying to joke. “I’m just kidding around. No, luckily my wife and kids are fantastic. I do get a little mopey at home, but my wife and kids are good.”

About a minute later, without being prompted, Ausmus said he was sorry.

“I didn’t want to make light of battered women,” the first-year manager said. “I didn’t mean to make light of that, so I apologize for that if that offended anyone.”

— Associated Press —

DETROIT (AP) — It’s been over a decade since the Kansas City Royals were in first place this late in the season, and try as he might, manager Ned Yost couldn’t totally downplay the achievement.

He just wants it kept in perspective.

“It’s nice. We’ve got a lot of games to play. We don’t get all geeked up,” Yost said. “It’s better than the alternative, trust me.”

Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas homered as part of a seven-run second inning, and the Royals displaced the Detroit Tigers atop the AL Central on Tuesday night with an 11-4 victory, their ninth in a row.

Kansas City is in first place this late in the season for the first time since 2003, according to STATS. The Royals were leading the division in late August that year, only to finish third at 83-79. They have not made the postseason since winning the World Series in 1985.

“A lot of games left, so it really doesn’t matter, but to say you’re in first place, it feels pretty good,” designated hitter Billy Butler said. “Being in first place any time is good — even if it’s after the first game.”

Gordon and Moustakas hit two-run shots off Max Scherzer, and Kansas City has won the first two games of this four-game series emphatically. The Royals, who trailed the Tigers by seven games after a May 20 loss, now lead Detroit by a half-game.

Scherzer (8-3) yielded a career high-tying 10 runs in four-plus innings. The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner allowed the first eight batters of the second inning to reach base, with Kansas City scoring six runs before making an out.

“I’m just not putting guys away with two strikes. That’s my problem,” Scherzer said. “I’ve taken punches on the chin before, and I’ve come back. I’m not worried about that. I just have to get back to where I’m putting guys away.”

Scherzer did strike out five in the game.

Yordano Ventura (5-5) allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings.

Ian Kinsler hit a solo homer for Detroit.

After winning 86 games in 2013, Kansas City is hoping to unseat the Tigers, who have won the last three division titles. Detroit looked headed for a fourth straight year at the top after a 27-12 start, but now the Tigers are facing a surprising number of questions about their starting rotation, which was expected to be among the best in baseball.

Justin Verlander has slumped badly over the last month — he took the loss in Kansas City’s 11-8 victory in the series opener Monday. Scherzer threw his first career shutout last week, but the Royals tagged him for 10 hits in his next start Tuesday.

Gordon opened the scoring with his two-run drive to right field, and Moustakas’ homer made it 4-0. Omar Infante added a two-run single before Eric Hosmer finally made the first out of the second inning on a tapper to the pitcher. Some fans cheered sarcastically, even though another run came home on the play to make it 7-0.

Verlander and Scherzer combined to allow 17 runs in the first two games of this series. That’s the most ever by two teammates with Cy Young Awards in back-to-back team games, according to STATS.

Ventura allowed two runs in the second, but that was the first of three consecutive innings in which Detroit hit into a double play. With the Royals ahead 10-2 in the fifth, Ventura walked Miguel Cabrera with the bases loaded, but the hard-throwing rookie caught a break when a pitch to Victor Martinez sailed past catcher Salvador Perez.

The ball bounced hard off the backstop, right back to Perez, and Detroit’s Eugenio Suarez was caught between third base and home. Perez threw to third to catch Suarez retreating and end the inning.

— Associated Press —