KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Detroit Tigers remained two losses short of the modern major league record, beating the Kansas City Royals 4-3 Wednesday night as Shane Loux earned his first major league victory.
The Tigers, who set an American League record with their 118th loss on Monday, matched a season high by turning four double plays. They won consecutive games for the first time since taking three straight from Cleveland from Sept. 2-4.
Detroit must still go 3-1 in its season-ending homestand against AL Central champion Minnesota to avoid tying the post-1900 record of 120 losses set by the 1962 New York Mets.
The Tigers were 2-0 under former manager Larry Parrish, who was fired after the 1999 season and is now the manager of the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens. Alan Trammell took off Monday and Tuesday to attend his mother's funeral in California.
Loux (1-1) gave up one run on three hits in five innings, walking one and striking out one. He faced only 17 batters as Detroit turned double plays behind him in the third and fourth innings.
His win came one year to the day after he started and took the loss, giving up five runs in four innings, in Kansas City's 17-2 victory on Sept. 24, 2002.
The Tigers also turned in double plays in the sixth and seventh.
Fernando Rodney came on with one on in the eighth and went the rest of the way, striking out two, for his third save in five opportunities.
Royals starter Jimmy Gobble (4-5) could not overcome a disastrous first inning in which he threw 40 pitches, faced the entire Detroit lineup and gave up four runs on four hits.
Dmitri Young and Ben Petrick hit RBI singles, Warren Morris forced in a run with a bases-loaded walk and Andres Torres made it 4-0 with a sacrifice fly.
Gobble pitched through the seventh, allowing only one more hit before being lifted for Curtis Leskanic.
Raul Ibanez drove in two runs for the Royals and extended his hitting streak to 12 games, a career high.
His RBI grounder in the first inning cut Detroit's lead to 4-1. In the sixth, Ibanez hit a one-run triple off reliever Matt Roney and scored on Aaron Guiel's sacrifice fly off Jamie Walker to get the Royals within 4-3.
Notes: The Royals activated OF Michael Tucker from the 15-day disabled list Wednesday. Tucker went on the DL on Aug. 5 with a broken bone in his lower right leg, the result of a foul tip one day earlier. ... DH Mike Sweeney was not in the Royals' lineup for the second straight night with lingering soreness in his upper back. The team listed him as day-to-day. ... Tigers hitting coach Bruce Fields also missed Wednesday night's game to attend the funeral of a friend. ... Detroit OF Bobby Higginson sat out Wednesday night's game, completing a two-game suspension stemming from his ejection Sept. 16 against Toronto.
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