KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- As tired as Darrell May was, he could still hardly wait to study film of his unorthodox victory over Detroit.
The left-hander gave up a season-high 10 hits, but still beat the Tigers 7-3 on Wednesday night.
Detroit's leadoff batter reached base in six of the seven innings he worked, forcing him to work out of the stretch almost the entire night.
"I was pitching good with runners on base," said May (2-8). "Maybe I should have started off pitching from the stretch. I'm going to have to go look at some video and see if there was anything different out of the stretch compared to the windup."
Matt Stairs and Mike Sweeney hit two-run homers for the Royals, who have won 15 of their last 20 against Detroit and could get their first series sweep of the year with a win on Thursday.
"I'm very tired right now," said May, who walked one and struck out two in 7 2/3 innings. "It really takes a lot of you when you're pitching in jams. Fortunately, I was able to come up with some big pitches."
One of the biggest was a strikeout of Ivan Rodriguez to end the fifth with two runners on.
"It was one of my best sliders of the night," May said. "He's really a tough out. I threw the ball right where I wanted to."
Detroit manager Alan Trammell was at a loss to explain how the Tigers stranded nine runners against a pitcher who came in with an ERA of 5.76.
"I wish I could answer that. I wish I could tell you," he said. "I think it's playing on the guys' minds."
After leading the major leagues in scoring in April, the Tigers have begun struggling for runs.
"We weren't going to continue the pace we were going," Trammell said. "Now we've gone the other way. Which group are we?"
Jaime Cerda struck out Carlos Pena with the bases loaded to end the eighth. Jeremy Affeldt retired two batters for his second save in three chances.
Gary Knotts (1-1), making his third straight start after nine relief appearances, gave up five runs -- three earned -- and eight hits in five innings.
Alex Sanchez and Rondell White each had three hits for Detroit, which outhit the Royals 12-10 while losing its third in a row.
Stairs' sixth homer put Kansas City ahead in the first, but Brandon Inge cut the deficit in half with an RBI triple in the second.
After a throwing error by second baseman Omar Infante allowed Carlos Beltran to score in the third, Benito Santiago followed with an RBI single. Joe Randa, trying to score from second, was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Craig Monroe.
Ken Harvey hit into a run-scoring double play in the fifth for a 5-1 lead, and Sweeney homered on a 3-0 pitch from Esteban Yan in the seventh.
Carlos Guillen homered in the eighth, and Bobby Higginson singled home a run off Scott Sullivan.
Notes
Beltran prevented a run with a fine shoestring catch on Inge with two outs in the fourth. ... When Santiago threw out Sanchez trying to steal second in the first inning, it was the league-leading 10th time Sanchez had been caught. It was just the second time in 16 steal attempts that Santiago threw a runner out. ... Sanchez laid down his major league-leading 18th bunt single in the third and added his 19th in the ninth. ... Harvey's first-inning single bounced into umpire Eric Cooper standing behind second base, preventing Harvey from taking a wide turn at first.
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