Ordonez leaves game early due to dizziness DETROIT -- Magglio Ordonez left with dizziness Wednesday, but the Royals left Mike Maroth's head spinning. A year ago, Maroth lost three of four starts against Kansas City despite a 2.96 ERA. This year, the Royals started off Maroth's season by picking him apart for 11 hits, sending the Tigers to a 7-2 loss Wednesday afternoon at Comerica Park. The top third of the Royals order -- David DeJesus, Tony Graffanino and Mike Sweeney -- combined for seven hits and three runs against Maroth (0-1), who gave up the second-highest hit total of his career. He surrendered 12 hits last July 3 at Colorado. His 3 2/3 innings marked his shortest outing since lasting two innings at Seattle on April 25, 2003. For Maroth, who threw 86 pitches, it seemed a lot longer than that. The normally efficient left-hander never found a rhythm. "Not at all," Maroth said. "I think it showed, throwing a lot of balls and going deep on hitters. I'm a guy who likes to get them to put it in play early in the count, and I wasn't able to do that today." Maroth needed 46 of those pitches to get through a first inning that featured three full counts, including two out of the first three hitters he faced as the Royals didn't flinch at close pitches. DeJesus, the leadoff hitter, set the tone in that regard, falling behind on a 1-2 count before lining a full-count delivery into right field. Two batters later with runners at the corners, Maroth had Sweeney in an 0-2 hole. A 1-2 breaking ball bounced in the dirt and ricocheted off Sweeney's foot towards the backstop, scoring DeJesus and bringing Graffanino from first to third. With the count full, Sweeney fought off a good pitch and blooped it into short center field for an RBI single to put the Royals on the board. "It's pretty safe to say he wasn't sharp," manager Alan Trammell said. For many pitchers, that would've been the point where the start unraveled. Maroth survived by inducing popouts from Eli Marrero and Emil Brown and striking out Matt Stairs, again on a full count. When the smoke cleared -- literally, as a nearby fire sent a hazy smoke over the ballpark early -- Maroth had a 2-0 deficit. He nearly entered the fourth inning with a lead thanks to the Tigers' only rally off of Royals starter Runelvys Hernandez. An infield single sandwiched between two walks loaded the bases with no one out for the top of the order. Omar Infante drove in Carlos Pena with a sacrifice fly, then Carlos Guillen loaded the bases again with a single off the mound. Hernandez escaped through the heart of Detroit's order, retiring Ivan Rodriguez on a popup to second base and Ordonez on a fly ball to center. "We didn't score there," Trammell said, "and they came back with three in the fourth. Looking back, that was the whole key to the ballgame right there." Instead of waiting out Maroth in the fourth inning, the Royals went for pitches they wanted. Stairs hit a one-out double to right-center on a 3-1 pitch and scored two batters later when Mark Teahen pulled a 1-0 delivery into the right-field corner for an RBI triple and his first Major League hit. "A lot of times I was missing down," Maroth said. "I wasn't missing by a lot. I need to be a little more aggressive in the zone early in the count, and I think that's what I failed to do today. And they were patient, so I ended up getting behind them and all of a sudden I've got to bring the ball into the middle of the zone, and they get a good pitch to hit." Three consecutive batters reached from there, including Graffanino's third hit on a comebacker that bounced off Maroth's left shin. Maroth stayed in the game, but Sweeney's single up the middle three pitches later ended his outing. Maroth still had the sink on his pitches. Stairs and Teahen had the only two extra-base hits off of him, and two of the five hits that weren't ground balls. But his command was similar to his Spring Training finale last week against the Indians. "I've got to look at my performance and not really evaluate the hits that they got," Maroth said. "What it comes to is I've got to get ahead of hitters." Teahen's triple is believed to be the play where Ordonez felt the most light-headed, since it sent him running into the right-field corner. It's not certain whether the condition is related to the diverticulitis that has bothered him for nearly two weeks. Once Hernandez (1-0) escaped the third, he found his rhythm. Detroit managed just two more hits off him in four remaining innings en route to his first victory since Aug. 10, 2003. He missed last season at the Major League level due to Tommy John surgery. "He had great command today," Rondell White said. "That split was nasty. If he stays healthy, he'll be a good one." --

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