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Royals get no relief with short-handed bullpen

DETROIT -- All night long, Royals manager Ned Yost had to get creative with his bullpen as he was without his big four -- Ryan Madson, Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland, all of whom had workload issues.

So Yost had to reach deep, all the way to rookie right-hander Miguel Almonte, who pitched a scoreless 10th before serving up the game-winning homer to Ian Kinsler in the 11th inning as the Royals dropped a 6-5 decision to the Tigers on Saturday night.

"He threw really well in the 10th," Yost said. "We were down to [Joba] Chamberlain, [Danny] Duffy and Almonte, but we really like Almonte's stuff. He just got a curveball up to a really good hitter."

Royals catcher Salvador Perez said he was hoping the Almonte curve to Kinsler would be down and in.

"I got it up," Almonte said. "Not where I wanted it."

Yost got six innings of three-run ball from starter Edinson Volquez, but then had to start mixing and matching.

"I thought Volquez threw really well," Yost said. "He got us through six innings, which was great. Then, we just tried to string it out from there with [Chris] Young and Hoch [Luke Hochevar]. Originally, we wanted to close it out with Hoch."

Young inherited a 4-3 lead. But after a four-pitch walk to Miguel Cabrera, Young threw a 3-1 fastball to Victor Martinez, who clobbered it for a two-run homer.

"It's a fine line on that [3-1] pitch," Young said. "I don't want Cabrera to get into scoring position as the tying run. It was a bad pitch."

Video: KC@DET: After review, Dyson nabs Kinsler at the plate

Yost got a scoreless eighth from Franklin Morales and a scoreless ninth from Hochevar, highlighted by Jarrod Dyson's throw from center field that nailed Kinsler at the plate.

Jeffrey Flanagan is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter at @FlannyMLB.
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