Kansas City, Mo. ? Kenny Rogers pitched six strong innings and Placido Polanco homered and drove in two runs to help the Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-1, Tuesday night.

Magglio Ordonez had three of the Tigers’ 12 hits and had two RBIs.

Rogers (8-6) did not come back after a 2-hour, 20-minute rain delay in the bottom of the seventh. He gave up four hits and one run in. In his past 11 starts, Rogers is 4-2 with a 2.92 earned-run average.

The Tigers are 27-13 in their past 40 games, the most wins in the majors during that stretch, going from 12 games below .500 on June 6 to two games above .500.

Rogers ended a personal five-game losing streak against the Royals, defeating them for the first time since Sept. 23, 2006. Rogers had a 7.03 ERA in his previous five outings, four starts, against Kansas City.

Detroit sent eight men to the plate in a three-run fifth to take a four-run lead. Curtis Granderson led off the inning with a single and stopped at third on Polanco’s double. Carlos Guillen worked a 12-pitch walk off reliever Joel Peralta to load the bases with none out. Miguel Cabrera’s one-out single to right scored Granderson.

Matt Joyce walked with the bases loaded, scoring Polanco. Gary Sheffield’s sacrifice fly brought home Guillen with the final run of the inning.

Rogers gave up a run in the first when Mike Aviles doubled, extending his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games. He scored on Mark Grudzielanek’s single. Grudzielanek had three of the four hits off Rogers and is 12-for-23 (.652) off the 43-year-old left-hander.

Guillen doubled with two outs in the first and scored on Ordonez’s single for the first Detroit run.

Polanco homered in the third off Kyle Davies (3-2) to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. His fielder’s choice grounder in the ninth scored Edgar Renteria, who led off the inning with a single.

Davies (3-2) lasted but four innings as his pitch count reached 96. He allowed two runs on five hits. Davies was 3-0 with a 1.46 ERA in his first four starts after the Royals recalled him on May 31. In four July starts, Davies is 0-1 with a 6.53 ERA and he has not won since June 17, a span of six starts.