Kansas City Royals beat the Tigers 11:7 in a regular-season match on Saturday, 23 August. The visitors had already dropped two games to their opponents the previous day, and this result completed the sweep. The scoreline reflected what had been building through the series.
The Royals had shown they could handle the Tigers in different ways. On 22 August they won 3:1 and 2:5, ending a spell where they had found no answer against this particular opponent. The Tigers refused to go away, but the Royals let the tie slip on this occasion.
Kansas City had been in good form before the series. They won 6:2, 9:7 and 4:3 against the Athletics over five days, building momentum before turning their attention to the Tigers. The Tigers meanwhile had struggled against the Pirates, losing 3:4 and 1:4 before their 8:5 victory on 17 August.
The 11 runs scored were not the point — it was the pattern. The Royals had come into this series having nothing to lose, and they played accordingly. The Tigers had one foot in the next round of their own thinking, but this was a different matter entirely.
After the sweep, the Royals held on grimly to what had been a difficult patch. The Tigers ended a barren spell of their own in the sense that they had finally played better against the Pirates, but this result meant they had nothing left to show for the series. The score was 11:7, and the series was over.