Kansas City, Mo. ? The Kansas City Royals came through with a victory for their home fans – though there weren’t many of them.

Matt Stairs had three hits, including a three-run homer, and the Royals beat the Detroit Tigers, 10-4, before their smallest home crowd in 10 years.

The Royals, who have lost 99 games, drew an announced attendance of 8,915 for the opener of their final homestand of the season. That is the smallest crowd to see a Royals’ home game since July 5, 1995, when 7,511 watched them play Boston.

“The reasons why the fans aren’t out here are the type of season we’ve had, the time of year it is, not in the race, knocking on 100 losses,” catcher John Buck said. “I think that’s why people are not going to make the sacrifice to stay up late on a school night because it is not real meaningful.”

Kansas City's Matt Stairs (12) celebrates his home run against Detroit with teammate Mike Sweeney. The Royals beat the Tigers, 10-4, Monday in Kansas City, Mo.

Stairs homered in the first after Mike Sweeney snapped an 0-for-11 skid with a single. Terrence Long also was on base.

“We could have easily rolled over, after their home run in the first inning and said, ‘Here we go again,'” Stairs said. “We had some good at-bats in the first inning. When you score three runs in the first inning, that is nice. It takes pressure off the offense.”

Mike Wood (5-7) was 0-3 in four starts before earning his first victory since Aug. 20, when he helped snap the Royals’ franchise-record 19-game losing streak. He is 2-3 in eight starts since moving into the rotation Aug. 9.

Wood gave up four runs and eight hits, including home runs by Carlos Pena and Chris Shelton, in 52â3 innings before being replaced by rookie reliever Ambiorix Burgos. He walked one and struck out four.

The Royals made it 5-2 in the fourth. Angel Berroa’s double scored Emil Brown, who opened the inning with a single, and Andres Blanco’s sacrifice fly scored Berroa.

The Royals scored three more runs in the fifth and chased Tigers starter Jeremy Bonderman (14-13). The inning included doubles by Stairs, Berroa and Mark Teahen.