Kansas City, Mo. ? Magglio Ordonez is much more interested in the American League standings than the batting race.

Ordonez homered and had three hits Thursday, raising his major-league-leading average to .359 and helping the Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-1, to avoid a three-game sweep.

“I don’t check the batting race. I’m just going to go up there and do my job,” said Ordonez, looking for his first batting title. “I’m just going to play baseball, and we’ll see after the season.”

Jeremy Bonderman (11-7) pitched seven strong innings to snap his six-game losing streak. Curtis Granderson joined Ordonez with three hits and a home run.

“It’s about time to do everything – hitting and pitching,” said Ordonez, who had three RBIs. “We haven’t done that in a while. It was good for our team.”

The Tigers remained 41â2 games behind first-place Cleveland in the AL Central and three back in the wild-card chase.

“I think we have a great chance to make the playoffs,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “I think we’ve got a shot. Why not? There are a lot of games to be played yet. What it boils down to is what I’ve been talking about all year long. You can’t just say you’ve got a shot. You’ve got to go out there and do something about it. But I like our team.”