Detroit ? Given some offense, Brian Bannister ended his brief losing streak.

Bannister allowed four hits in seven innings and Esteban German homered for the Kansas City Royals in 5-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.

Kansas City starter Brian Bannister delivers in the second inning against the Tigers. The Royals won, 5-2, Sunday in Detroit.

Kansas City, tied with Chicago for last in the AL Central, went 5-4 on a trip against playoff contenders Boston, Cleveland and Detroit.

“This is just a huge mental lift for us,” Bannister said. “We won the series and we won the road trip against three great teams.”

Bannister (6-6) gave up one run on four hits in seven innings, struck out three and walked one. Gary Sheffield, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen and Sean Casey combined to go 0-for-12 against Bannister.

“Banny was as good as it gets out there,” Royals manager Buddy Bell said. “I thought he struggled early with his control, but he really settled down, and the seventh inning was probably his best.”

In Bannister’s previous two starts, the Royals lost 4-0 to Seattle and Boston. He prepared for this start by reviewing his 6-3 defeat against the Tigers on May 4.

“I’ve watched a lot of video from that game, because I didn’t want to make the same mistakes,” he said. “Guillen had three hits against me, and I threw some pitches to Magglio and Casey that I didn’t throw today.”

Kansas City is 6-3 during its last three series in Detroit, starting with the season-ending sweep that cost the Tigers last year’s AL Central title.

“We’re getting better,” Bell said. “In this division, we’re going to have to get a lot better, but we’re heading in the right direction.”

The Tigers, who lead the AL Central, dropped two of three against the Royals, their first series defeat since losing two of three to Minnesota from June 29-July 1.

“I have no complaints,” manager Jim Leyland said. “We had a little shot in the ninth inning, but we couldn’t get it done.”

Ordonez hit an RBI double in the ninth off Octavio Dotel and Detroit had two on with no outs, but Dotel retired Casey on a flyout, then struck out Craig Monroe and pinch-hitter Ivan Rodriguez.