DETROIT ? Dmitri Young got to the top step of the dugout, pivoted and tipped his helmet to a roaring crowd after becoming just the third player to hit three homers on opening day.

“I’ve had a curtain call, but nothing like that,” Young said. “That was incredible.”

Young went 4-for-4 and matched a career high with five RBIs, and Jeremy Bonderman won as the youngest Opening-Day starter since 1986 to lead the Detroit Tigers over the Kansas City Royals, 11-2, Monday.

Two years after losing an AL-record 119 games, the Tigers backed up what Young said last month when he boldly proclaimed: “We’re the Tigers — not the kittens.” It was, however, just the first of 162 games, and the victory came against a team expected to be among baseball’s worst.

Detroit’s performance created a frenzied atmosphere before a Comerica Park-record crowd of 44,105 on a sunny day with temperatures in the 60s.

“I don’t know if I could’ve written a better script,” Tigers manager Alan Trammell said.

Young’s home run in the second inning put Detroit ahead 1-0. He hit a two-run homer in the third for a 5-0 lead and added another two-run shot in the eighth. The designated hitter also had a single and was hit by a pitch.

“That was a great day,” Kansas City manager Tony Pena said. “Good for him. Bad for us.”

Toronto’s George Bell hit three homers against the Royals on opening day in 1988, and Tuffy Rhodes of the Chicago Cubs had three against the New York Mets in 1994. Those two games also were played April 4.

“It was just one of those unconscious days,” said Young, who has hit two homers in a game six times.

Detroit's Dmitri Young, right, hugs manager Alan Trammell after the Tigers' 11-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Young hit three homers in the game Monday in Detroit.

He did not hit a home run in 46 at-bats during spring training.

“You never see those stats on the back of a bubble gum card,” Young said with a wide smile.

Young did his best to deflect attention to the rest of his teammates, especially Bonderman, whom he called “a young Roger Clemens.”

Bonderman pumped his fist and walked off the mound with a confident strut after ending the second inning with his fifth strikeout. He finished with seven strikeouts in seven innings and gave up one run and six hits.

The 22-year-old right-hander became the youngest pitcher to start an opener since the New York Mets’ Dwight Gooden did it at the age of 21 in 1986. No Tiger that young had started an opener since 20-year-old Josh Billings in 1928.

Bonderman shrugged off any questions about his age.

“They gave me the opportunity, and I took advantage of it,” he said.

The overflow crowd at the 5-year-old ballpark — with uncounted fans perched atop a parking garage across the street — watched a team hoping to contend in the AL Central. Magglio Ordonez’s bat and an improved bullpen, led by free-agent acquisition Troy Percival, are expected to boost Detroit’s chances.

Ordonez, the only player given a standing ovation before his first at-bat, went 0-for-4 with a walk and a run, and Percival had one strikeout in the ninth.

“We’re going to put a lot of pressure on teams with our offense,” Percival said.

Kansas City’s Jose Lima gave up five runs and six hits over three innings in his first Opening-Day start and the 200th of his career. Three of the hits were homers, including one by Brandon Inge.

“It’s too quiet in here,” Lima said. “No one died. We still have 161 games left.”

The Royals scored on David DeJesus’ single in the fifth, but Detroit got three in the home half on a bases-loaded walk and Craig Monroe’s two-run single to take an 8-1 lead.

Calvin Pickering hit a solo homer in the eighth off Ugueth Urbina.

The Royals — who lost a franchise-worst 104 games last year — returned just eight players from their 2004 Opening Day roster.

“With a young team, you will have games like this,” Pena said.

Notes: Kirk Gibson, Detroit’s bench coach, was the only other Tiger with multiple homers in an opener, back in 1986. … The previous record crowd at Comerica Park was 44,095 on June 1, 2003, when Roger Clemens failed in an attempt for win No. 300 while pitching for the New York Yankees. … 3B Mark Teahen became the third Royals player to make his major league debut as a starter on opening day, joining Michael Tucker (1995) and Joe Zdeb (1977). … Detroit OF Bobby Higginson, replaced by Ordonez, did not start on opening day for the first time since 1995 — and was booed during pregame introductions. … Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm also were booed before the game. … The U.S. flag was at half-staff and a moment of silence was observed for Pope John Paul II. … Urbina pitched for the first time since he left the team last Sept. 1 after his mother was kidnapped in Venezuela. She was rescued five months later.