Royals lose 5-1 in possibly the most boring game ever

This offense man.

The Royals hitters were once again lifeless, having already mentally left for the All-Star break. Unlike last night's singles train, the Royals managed just six hits tonight, five of them singles. Billy Butler and Omar Infante each accounted for two hits, and Nori Aoki drew two walks, but the Royals could never sustain much of a scoring threat.

James Shields was effective over seven innings, giving up just two runs and striking out eight, which should give us some hope going into the second half. The Tigers got the scoring going in the third inning when Austin Jackson doubled and scored on an Ian Kinsler single. Detroit would add to that lead the next inning when Torii Hunter tripled and scored on an Alex Avila RBI single. That was seemingly all the run support Tigers starter Rick Porcello would need.

The Royals had runners on base in the second and third innings wiped out by double plays (amazingly, not Billy Butler's fault). They loaded the bases in the fifth, only to have Lorenzo Cain strike out. The Royals finally plated a run in the sixth when Billy Butler hit a sacrifice fly following back-to-back singles by Salvador Perez and Omar Infante. But in the ninth inning, the Tigers would really put the game away, putting up three runs on a pair of home runs by J.D. Martinez and Alex Avila off reliever Aaron Crow. The Royals scratch and claw and try so hard to score one measly run and the Tigers just swat the ball over the fence like its nothing. Completely frustrating.

With a loss tomorrow, the Royals head into the All-Star break at .500. Its still ahead of last year's 43-49 mark, but do the Royals have another hot streak in them to salvage the season?