Detroit ? For two weeks, Jarrod Washburn thought he needed to earn his spot in the rotation with the Detroit Tigers.

He took care of that Friday night.

After struggling in two starts since being acquired from Seattle on July 31, Washburn matched Zack Greinke in a scoreless duel before Brandon Inge’s ninth-inning homer gave the Tigers a 1-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

“I finally feel like I’ve done something to become part of the team,” said Washburn, who had an 8.74 ERA since coming to Detroit. “I’m getting comfortable with the team and with (catcher) Gerald (Laird) and I had everything working for me tonight.”

With one out in the ninth, Inge hit a 2-1 pitch from Roman Colon (1-2) into the bullpens in left field for his 23rd home run.

“Any homer is fun, but hitting one to win a game is something special,” said Inge, who came into the game hitting .188 since playing in his first All-Star game. “I felt a little better tonight, but I feel a heck of a lot better now. Winning a game like that will do that.”

Colon has allowed at least one run in his last five outings and saw his ERA rise to 6.00.

“He was the most rested guy we had in the bullpen,” Royals manager Trey Hillman said. “He just left a fastball up to a guy where you can’t do that.”

Inge went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts against Greinke, so he was pleased to be facing his former teammate in the ninth.

“Greinke was pretty dominant tonight, so you’re happy to see anyone else out there,” he said. “He’s inventing new stuff out there. He threw me a 95 mph cutter that looked like Mariano Rivera’s — I’d never seen that from him before.”

Brandon Lyon (6-4) picked up the win with one inning of relief as the Tigers extended their scoreless streak to 21 innings.

“That was just a great baseball game,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “We had a big crowd and they got to see great pitching, great defense, and a homer to win it. That’s pretty much a perfect night for our fans.”

Greinke pitched seven innings, allowing three hits and a season-high four walks. He struck out six.

“I don’t usually walk four batters — I felt fine, but I wasn’t as sharp as I’ve been,” he said. “It was a close game, and Washburn did a real good job of keeping us down.”

Washburn gave up three hits and two walks in eight innings.

Neither team had a hit until Curtis Granderson of the Tigers doubled with two outs in the third.