Detroit's Ivan Rodriguez scores on a single by Brandon Inge. The Tigers defeated Kansas City, 5-4, on Friday night in Detroit.

Detroit ? The defending AL champions plan to keep competing until somebody tells them to go home.

Brandon Inge hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the sixth inning, and the Detroit Tigers rallied for a 5-4 victory Friday night over Kansas City, maintaining their slim chances of making it back to the playoffs.

Detroit began the day trailing the New York Yankees by 51â2 games in the wild-card race and is 71â2 games behind in the AL Central with just more than a week left in the regular season.

“Crazier things have happened, so we’re going to play it out until the very end, and we’ll see where we’re at,” said Sean Casey, whose three-run homer in the fifth sparked the comeback.

The Tigers were behind the Royals 4-0 after four innings, but came back to take the lead on Casey’s home run in the fifth and Inge’s clutch hit in the sixth – much to the delight of 40,000-plus fans.

Detroit manager Jim Leyland was touched by the size and enthusiasm of the crowd, coming off a deflating sweep against the Indians earlier in the week.

“A lot of them, after they saw what happened, could’ve not showed and gone to high school football,” Leyland said. “I’m totally impressed.”

The Royals lost for the 12th time in 16 games, leading to manager Buddy Bell ending a one-minute news conference with a question.

“Can I be done?” Bell asked.

After Kansas City roughed up Jair Jurrjens, Tim Byrdak and the bullpen kept the Tigers in the game.

Byrdak (2-0) did not give up a hit over four innings, striking out five and walking only one. He was replaced with one out in the seventh, and the fans behind the dugout gave him a standing ovation for making the comeback possible.

“That felt great,” Byrdak said. “Everybody is talking about the bleak playoff picture, but it tells you a lot that our fans still believe in us.”

Fernando Rodney didn’t give up a hit in 12â3 innings, and Todd Jones pitched the ninth for his 38th save in 43 chances – giving up the only hit the bullpen allowed in 62â3 innings.

Kansas City got the tying runner, who reached on an error, to third base with one out in the eighth, but Rodney got out of the inning with a strikeout and flyout.

The Royals scored in each of the first three innings – highlighted by Jason Smith’s two-run homer in the second – and Billy Buckner held Detroit scoreless for four innings before the game turned.

Buckner gave up three runs and seven hits over five innings. Leo Nunez (2-4) gave up two unearned runs, and got only one out.

In the sixth, Detroit’s Ivan Rodriguez hit a grounder to Smith, and instead of the shortstop starting what could have been an inning-ending double play he made an untimely throwing error.

John Bale replaced Nunez, and after getting a strikeout, Bale gave up an infield single that bounced into fair territory. Bell was dumbfounded that Bale didn’t field the ball while it was in foul territory.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a big-league player let a ball go that went fair. That was a bad play,” Bell said

Notes: Rodriguez played his 2,056th game as a catcher, tying Gary Carter for third on the all-time list, and trailing just Carlton Fisk (2,226) and Bob Boone (2,225) in games behind the plate in major-league history. … Royals DH Billy Butler was 2-for-4, giving him a season-high eight-game hitting streak, and had two RBIs.