It was the Butler, with a bat at Comerica: Royals thump Tigers

Baseball Betting Lines

07/21/2007 - Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Billy Butler went 4-for-5 with four RBI as the Kansas City Royals pounded the Detroit Tigers, 10-2, in the opener of a three- game series at Comerica Park.

Mark Grudzielanek also had four hits and scored four times for the Royals, who have won 13 of their last 20 games.

Gil Meche (7-6) tossed seven strong innings, yielding two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and no walks.

Kenny Rogers (3-2), meanwhile, was tagged for six runs -- five earned -- over 6 1/3 frames for Detroit, which had a four-game winning streak halted. Gary Sheffield homered in defeat.

Butler put the Royals ahead in the first with an RBI groundout before Sheffield tied it up in the home-half of the inning with his 23rd home run of the year.

The Royals put up a three-spot in the third, though, to reclaim the lead. With the bases loaded and one out, Butler came through with a single to center that brought in both Grudzielanek and Esteban German. Curtis Granderson committed a throwing error on the play, allowing Mark Teahen to come home as well.

The scoring went quiet until the sixth, when Magglio Ordonez knocked in Granderson with a single to slice the Kansas City lead to 4-2.

Kansas City again provided an answer in the seventh. German and Grudzielanek started things with back-to-back doubles to push the first run of the frame across, and Butler added an RBI base hit later in the inning for a 6-2 advantage.

Four more Royals runs in the ninth turned it into a rout. David DeJesus drove in a pair with a single, and a throwing error during the sequence let a third run cross. Brown stepped in next and capped the scoring with an RBI groundout.

Game Notes

Butler has driven in 19 runs in his last 11 games. This was his first-ever four-hit game...Meche has not lost since June 9, spanning seven starts...Detroit entered off a sweep of the Minnesota Twins...Detroit has dominated this series since the start of last season, winning 21 of the 28 matchups. However, six of Kansas City's wins in that time have come in the Motor City.

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Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.

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Be sure to log onto online sports betting site MySportsbook.com to check out the odds for who will lead the MLB in home runs this season. Below is just a sample of the players listed. With the highest credit card rates in the industry, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on baseball this summer.

World Series odds

Adam Dunn 15-1

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Richie Sexson 40-1

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Vladimir Guerrero 40-1

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