DETROIT – Placido Polanco’s tiebreaking single with two outs in the eighth inning gave the Detroit Tigers a 7-6 win over Kansas City on Tuesday night and extended the Royals’ losing streak to six.

Polanco also hit a solo home run and tripled, Magglio Ordonez had three hits and three RBIs and Marcus Thames homered.

David DeJesus had four hits with a homer and scored three runs for Kansas City, which is 1-7 on the road.

With the score 6-6, Omar Infante singled to lead off the eighth and was sacrificed to second by Neifi Perez. One out later, Polanco singled off David Riske (0-2).

Wilfredo Ledezma (3-0) earned the win despite giving up two runs in 2 1-3 innings. Todd Jones allowed one hit in the ninth for his seventh save in seven chances.

Detroit tied the game 6-6, in the seventh off Joel Peralta when Polanco tripled and scored on Gary Sheffield’s double.

Reggie Sanders’ two-out two-run double in the sixth gave Kansas City a 6-5 lead and capped a four-run outburst.

Tony Pena Jr. drove in the first run of the inning with a groundout that chased Tigers starter Mike Maroth. DeJesus greeted reliever Wilfredo Ledezma with a RBI single. And after a walk to German, Sanders drilled a 2-0 pitch down the right-field line.

Kansas City starter Jorge De La Rosa allowed five runs and eight hits in six innings.

Maroth allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings.

Kansas City took a 1-0 lead in the first on Mike Sweeney’s RBI single. It scored DeJesus, who led off the game with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt.

Detroit tied it in the bottom half of the inning on Ordonez’s two-out, run-scoring single. Rodriguez led off with a double and went to third on a flyout. Ordonez lined De La Rosa’s 3-2 pitch into left-centerfield.

Ordonez put the Tigers ahead 3-1 with a two-run double in the third. It scored Rodriguez, who led off with a single, and Polanco, who reached on an error by Pena at short.

Thames made it 4-1 with his first homer of the year, leading off the fourth.

DeJesus pulled the Royals to within 4-2 with his third home run to lead off the top of the fifth.

Polanco restored Detroit’s three-run lead with his first homer of the season, leading off the bottom of the fifth.

Note: Detroit 3B Brandon Inge didn’t play because of the flu. … Tigers’ RHP Jose Mesa has a groin strain and will pitch again Friday, at the earliest. … It was DeJesus’ fifth four-hit game. His last one came on July 16, of last season in Detroit against the Tigers. He also has a nine-game hitting streak against Detroit in which he is 22-for-40, with a home run, five doubles and three triples and 10 RBIs.

AP-ES-04-17-07 2211EDT