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Detroit Tigers finish off sweep of Kansas City Royals to escape cellar in AL Central

Tigers shortstop Ryan Kreidler throws out the Kansas City Royals’ MJ Melendez at first base in the fifth inning in Detroit on Thursday. (AP photo)

DETROIT — Willi Castro and Javy Baez homered to lead Detroit over the Kansas City Royals 10-3 on Thursday for a three-game sweep that moved the Tigers out of last place in the AL Central.

Detroit (63-92) has won six straight, matching its season high and ensuring the Tigers will not lose 100 games. Detroit went 10-9 this year against the Royals (63-93), who dropped into the division cellar.

“We’re at 92 losses, so we’re not going to celebrate anything, but we’re happy to sweep again,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’re playing better across the board, but as a manager, I know there are a lot of things we can do better. Still, winning is nice.”

The Tigers have gone 8-2 since falling to 55-91 on Sept. 18.

“We’ve known all year that we can play this well,” Báez said. “The important thing is coming back next season and playing like this right from the start.”

Kansas City stranded 11 runners, raising its two-day total to 24, and went 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

“We needed that big hit and it eluded us for most of the last two days,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “It was good to see a couple of guys put a charge into the ball late in the game, but we were dealing with a pretty big gap by that point.”

Eduardo Rodriguez (5-5) allowed five hits and four walks in 6 2/3 shutout innings, but struggled after Detroit’s four-run fifth.

“I feel like everything was working just the way I wanted in the first five innings,” he said.

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