Royals get out the brooms, put them back, lose 2-1 to Detroit

The Royals are allowed to lose, I guess.

After Norichika Aoki reached in the 1st inning off a double, Billy Butler slapped another double down the right field line to plate Aoki. Most people were surprised that it took so long to score a run. It would be the only run the Royals would score.

The Tigers came back with a single-double combination of their own by Austin Jackson and Miguel Cabrera, which evened the score at 1-1 in the 4th inning. Cabrera really smashed that pitch, which was left up and over the plate. Luckily, Cabrera ran walked loped into an out on the bases on the next play, which was overturned after a Ned Yost challenge. It was scored as a 9-6 double play; Cabrera was very lax in tagging up after a fly ball to right field, and Escobar made a wonderful catch-and-tag to get him out as Cabrera lazily went back to the bag.

This was important because J.D. Martinez hit another home run the next at bat. It's not like it was a bad pitch by Danny Duffy, though. It was a low fastball that Martinez muscled over the right field wall. I don't think Aoki really had a chance to rob the homer, but he sure did take a wonky route. Martinez really thwomped the Royals during this series, and he made it 2-1.

The Royals mounted a threat in the 5th inning after consecutive singles by Mike Moustakas and Alcides Escobar, but slap bet winners extraordinaire Jarrod Dyson and Aoki grounded out to end the inning. Butler got on in the 6th by means of a double, but again the Royals couldn't bring him in. At least Butler's double got this reaction:

Billy Butler with a two-out, hustle double. "That's what speed do," Dick Kaegel says.

— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) June 19, 2014

Duffy was finished for the day after a solid 7 innings in which he gave up only 2 runs and got 5 strikeouts. He pounded the zone with a 68.3% strike rate, but it seemed like there were a ton of foul balls. I'll take it anyway. GNAR. Aaron Crow finished out the 8th despite an error by Moustakas on a bunt. Ausmus bunted like Yost in that 8th inning.

The Royals finally got to the Tigers bullpen in the 8th inning after Sanchez's 7 innings of 5-hit, 1-walk, 0-strikeout ended. Aoki got a single off Joba Chamberlain, but the Royals couldn't do anything after that in the 8th. Joe Nathan, he of the 6+ ERA coming into the game, closed out the victory by striking out the side of a team that doesn't strike out much.

So, the winning streak has come to a full and complete stop. We can all undo our seat belts. We can call our loved ones. Despite the loss, the Royals are still in 1st place.