ODLB: Tigers-Royals, Innings 7-11

Seriously, this game is flying by. If you're joining late, here are innings 1-3, innings 4-6 and and we're joining the seventh in progress.

Top of the Seventh: Is Justin Verlander losing steam? He just walked Mark Teahen, the leadoff hitter, his first of the day.

Ugh -- Ross Glaod singles, putting Teahen, the tying run, on third. Jim Leyland has seen enough, bringing in Jason Grilli. Here's a timely commercial break for Tigers fans to go get their Pepto Bismal.

Grilli did what Grilli does, giving up an RBI base hit to John Buck to tie this game up.

On a side note, there's a very real possibility Detroit's bullpen will take 2-3 inches off my hairline this year. Just saying.

Tony Pena grounds to Polanco, and following a mini run-down, Buck is out at second, leaving Gload and Pena on the corners with one out. Jim Leyland comes to the mound (a few minutes too late) to take the ball from Grilli. Lefty Bobby Seay gets the call to face Joey Gathright. Let's continue these hijinks after the jump, mm-kay?

Seay gets Gathright to hit a little flare to shortstop. One batter up, one batter down: Leyland replaces Seay with Aquilino Lopez with Mark Grudzielanek due up.

Sigh. Grudz lines to right field, putting the Royals on top.

Lopez gets Alex Gordon to pop out on one pitch -- that would have been handy, oh, I don't know, one batter earlier.

In hindsight, Verlander's early efficiency didn't matter at all: he finished the game with 97 pitches over six innings, just two fewer than Meche over the same time. Will the Royals let Meche go one more frame? It wouldn't hurt to at least let him start the inning, in my eyes, especially after getting out of the sixth with just six pitches.

Bottom of the Seventh: Trey Hillman, on the other hand, is convinced Meche is done: Brett Tomko will open the seventh against Gary Sheffield.

Random fact: Tigers play-by-play guy Mario Impemba informs me that this marks the 20th consecutive year that Sheffield has played on Opening Day, the longest active streak in the majors. Just to put that in perspective, I was in fourth grade when he played his first Opening Day in 1989. And the guy still has one of the fastest bats in the majors.

And a good eye: he draws the walk from Tomko.

Magglio Ordonez empties the bases ... with a double-play. He made Tomko work for it, though. Not sure that counts for much.

Miguel Cabrera is back at the plate -- another home run would be nice, huh?

Oh, that's rough. Cabrera thought he got the walk and had to get called back to the plate. Two pitches later, he's swings and misses for the final out of the inning. Things aren't looking too hot for Detroit right now.

Give the Tigers credit, though: they really made Tomko work this inning. Even with a double-play, they made him throw 20 pitches. Not sure it matters much considering there are just two innings left, but still: that kind of approach to hitting pays off in the long run.

Top of the Eighth: The Royals, meanwhile, are jumping at the first strike: Jose Guillen hits a weak pop-up to Guillen on the third pitch he sees from Lopez.

Brett Butler does the same: one more pitch, another flyout, this time to Inge in center.

Sometimes being aggressive pays off: Mark Teahen smacked his first offering from Lopez past a diving Inge for an easy triple.

Ross Gload, meanwhile, grounds out to second after two pitches.

Both the Tigers and Royals failed to score in the eighth; the Tigers, though, worked over Tomko for 20 pitches, while the Royals saw a combined six pitches out of Lopez. What kind of approach would you rather see your team take? I know, I know, Royals fans: scoreboard. KC leads 4-3.

Bottom of the Eighth: Wait, what? Did I saw scoreboard? Because Carlos Guillen just tied the game with a HUGE shot to right field. It's 4-4, folks.

Before the Comerica Park crowd can even stop cheering for Guillen, Pudge grounds out second on the offering from Tomko. That's why you had nine walks all of 2007, dude.

Jacque Jones and his red bat are up and down in a blink: two pitches, ground out to first.

And we have our first beach ball related interruption of the season. Brandon Inge does not look amused. He strikes out swinging on the next pitch. Will this thing go extra innings? I'll tell you in six outs.

Top of the Ninth: Rookie Clete Thomas is a defensive replacement for Jacque Jones. Clete who? This guy. Also, Todd Jones takes the ball for Aquilino Lopez. I think I speak for all Tigers fans when I say I like Jones a lot better with a three-run margin of error.

Jones gets Buck to ground out, though it was a little scary: Buck made contact five times, fouling off four pitches before grounding to second.

Oh, that's a tough break for Tony Pena: he tried calling time out twice but never got it, and then he got called out on a foul tip when the ball came up near his head and his bat made contact with the ball and he ducked to avoid getting beaned. (I'm not sure the ball would have actually hit his head, but it was close enough that most big leaguers in his shoes would have ducked.) Seriously, Todd Jones has the weirdest luck sometimes.

Jones get Gathright to fly out to center on two pitches. The Tigers are up, still tied up 4-4.

Bottom of the Ninth: Tomko is pulled for Leo Nunez, who is trying to avoid the first walk-off home run of the season. The Tigers couldn't ask for a better situation with the top of the order due up.

So far, so good for KC: Renteria goes down swinging.

Polanco has a hit robbed by a diving Grudzielanek. Two down, Sheffield is up. (Okay, just saw the replay -- it was a diving catch, but Polanco wasn't quite robbed. Still a good play by Grudz, though.)

Sheffield just walked for the fourth time today. He's yet to put the ball in play. That's nuts.

You didn't have plans, did you? Magglio just popped out to first base, sending this thing to extra innings.

Top of the Tenth: Former Royal Denny Bautista takes the mound for the Tigers. Mark Grudz, Tigers nemesis of the day, is at the plate.

Grudz squeaks one under Renteria's glove -- it's his third hit. He just got pulled for pinch-runner Esteban German, which is good news for Detroit in case this thing lasts more innings.

As Mario and Rod point out on FSN, Bautista ... is ... slow. He's taking like 45 seconds between every pitch.

This if funny: the FSN radar gun clocked Bautista's fastball at 101 mph, while the MLB.com Gameday put it at 97 mph. Anyone think FSN tweaked their gun with Verlander on the mound?

Alex Gordon strikes out, but German steals second when Pudge's throw is off the mark.

Bautista gets Jose Guillen on three strikes -- Guillen could barely move. According to MLB.com, he threw three straight 98 mph fastballs.

Clete Thomas makes his presence known with a fine catch in left -- inning over, Miguel Cabrera/Carlos Guillen/Pudge Rodriguez are due up for the Tigers.

Bottom of the Tenth: I turn my head for two seconds and the inning is almost over: Miguel Cabrera (swinging strikeout) and Carlos Guillen (fly out to center) are both down. Pudge is up, and you know he's swinging.

And swing away he does: he's down on strikes.

Top of the 11th: Bautista's stuff is filthy but he can't seem to locate it -- Mark Teahen works him for a walk.

Gload sacrifices himself with a bunt to move Teahen to second.

Okay, if you're following along at the office, watch for this play tonight on SportsCenter: Buck strokes a hit to center field that brought Teahen around third and heading into second with a full head of steam. But Brandon Inge throws Teahen out at home with an absolute laser. That was an incredible throw, and a testament to Inge's arm strength.

Ugh. All that for nothing. Tony Pena fouls off pitch after pitch after pitch before blooping one into no man's land between Renteria and Inge in center. Inge tried to pick it up barehanded but couldn't, allowing Buck to score without a throw.

Royals lead 5-4 with Joey Gathright at the plate.

Bautista and Pudge are so concerned about Pena at first base that they pitch out, but then Pudge gift-wraps second base by letting a pitch deflect off the top of his glove. Gathright ends up walking. Runners on first and second, Esteban German is at the plate. (Better him than Grudz ...).

German strikes out, we head to the bottom. The Tigers need a run badly.

Bottom of the 11th: Clete Thomas opens the inning for the Tigers by making his first career at-bat. No pressure, kid, you just need to get on base or else the team (probably) loses.

Ha! He's too young to know pressure: he just doubled to right-center! The Tigers have life with a runner in scoring position and three outs to work with.

Brandon Inge lays down a bunt, giving himself up but moving Thomas to third base. The top of the order is up needing just a sac fly to extend this thing.

Well, so much for that: Renteria goes down swinging, meaning the Tigers need a regular ol' base hit to stay alive. Fortunately, Polanco had 200 such hits last year ...

... but no more today. Alex Gordon dives to his right to scoop up Polanco's ball. Game, set, match: the Royals win. Those who went to the game may leave unhappy but they at least got their money's worth. And those following along at the office, well, quitting time's in 15 minutes.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out the rest of today's live blog schedule.