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DETROIT -- The Kansas City Royals finally lost, but slugger Billy Butler hopes their impressive push in the AL Central will go on. "This doesnt end anything," he said. "Weve got 10-1 in our last 11 games, and were going home in first place. We just have to keep playing the way we are right now." Anibal Sanchez pitched seven sharp innings, and the Detroit Tigers snapped Kansas Citys 10-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory Thursday. J.D. Martinez hit a tiebreaking homer in the fourth for the Tigers, who avoided a four-game sweep and pulled within a half-game of the AL Central-leading Royals. Sanchez (4-2) allowed five hits and a walk, keeping the Kansas City offence quiet even though he failed to strike out a batter. Joba Chamberlain pitched the eighth, and struggling closer Joe Nathan struck out the side in the ninth for his 14th save in 18 chances. Danny Duffy (4-6) allowed two runs and three hits in seven innings. He walked one and struck out five. "We just had a great road trip, Danny Duffy just pitched a great game, and we lost a game to a great pitcher and a home run where I have no idea how J.D. Martinez hit the ball out of the park," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "All I can do is tip my cap to him, because he killed us all series." Butler gave the Royals a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the first, but Miguel Cabrera drove in a run with a double of his own in the fourth. Cabrera was tagged out on a bizarre double play when right fielder Nori Aoki caught Victor Martinezs flyball and threw back to the infield, where Cabrera was nonchalantly returning to second. Shortstop Alcides Escobar caught the ball and made the tag. Cabrera was initially ruled safe, but the call was overturned on replay. J.D. Martinez followed with a solo homer to right, his sixth of the year. He now has a nine-game hitting streak, with a .412 average in that span, and he hopes this win will end a stretch in which so much has gone badly for the Tigers. Detroit won for only the 10th time in its last 30 games. "Its funny, even talking to the umpires, they even chime in and say it. Theyre like, Dude, everything thats going wrong just seems to be going wrong for you guys. You guys just got to grind through it," Martinez said. "You see the breaks that weve been getting. We hit the ball hard, it gets caught. We hit it soft, it gets caught. We get on base, the ball goes to the backstop, comes back, gets thrown out, were out of an inning. Its just kind of like, craziness." Sanchez went without a strikeout for the first time in his career, but his fielders helped him. Third baseman Nick Castellanos reached over the railing of the Detroit dugout to catch a foul popup in the sixth. Nathan, who signed with the Tigers in the off-season, brought a 6.57 ERA into the game. He struck out Butler to start the ninth -- the Kansas City designated hitter argued the called third strike -- and Salvador Perez went down swinging. With the crowd on its feet and anxious for a much-needed win, Nathan struck out Lorenzo Cain to end it. "That looked like the Joe Nathan Ive faced for years," Butler said. "All those times with the Twins and then with Texas -- the one with a few hundred saves and all those All-Star games. Hes had some tough moments in his career, but that looked like the same guy today." The Royals were without outfielder Alex Gordon, who sat out because of flu-like symptoms. Detroit outfielder Torii Hunter (hamstring) did not play either. NOTES: The Tigers play at Cleveland on Friday night. Detroit RHP Rick Porcello (8-4) faces Cleveland RHP Corey Kluber (6-4). ... The Royals host Seattle. Kansas City RHP James Shields (7-3) takes on Mariners RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (5-3). Cheap Jerseys 2020 . "You hate when they score," he said with some distaste at the thought. "You take pride in it. NFL Jerseys 2020 . -- Jonas Hiller is cautiously confident he has kicked his vertigo. https://www.cheapjerseysfromchinareview.com/ . Pospisil, the seventh seed, saved match points in each of the last two sets before falling to the unseeded Dutchman. "I wasnt very happy with the way I was playing,"said Pospisil. Authentic Jerseys 2020 . The agreement comes a little more than one week after the video game manufacturer agreed to a $40 million settlement in a similar but separate case, bringing the total payout planned for athletes to $60 million, said Steve Berman, an attorney for the plaintiffs, and the NCAA. Wholesale Jerseys China . His fellow Finn, 21 years his junior, had just arrived in Anaheim and was hoping to stick with the Ducks.Andy Murray improved his chances of making the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals for the first time in four years after a record-breaking contest against Kei Nishikori in London. Not since his debut in 2008, when the tournament was held in Shanghai, has the Scot won both of his opening two matches and his stunning 6-7 (9-11) 6-4 6-4 victory over Nishikori will be enough for a first last-four appearance since 2012 should he take a set against Stan Wawrinka on Friday. Six months half price Upgrade to Sky Sports to watch Man Utd v Arsenal on Saturday and get the first six months half price This was the fourth meeting of the year between the pair, with Murray having won easily at the Olympics but enduring long five-set tussles with Nishikori in the Davis Cup and at the US Open, where he came out second best. And the Briton rose to the occasion once again, after his victory over Cilic, to defeat Japans finest in the longest ever match at the season-ending tournament, lasting three hours and 20 minutes.Shot of the matchMurray showed remarkable powers of recovery with a moment of pure genius to be in the right place at the right time to save a third set point in an opening set tiebreak with this attacking winner from the tightest of angles. It was reminiscent of his winning effort to win the Rome Masters earlier this year against Novak Djokovic. This was just about the best point in a dramatic tiebreak in which Murray had three set points and Nishikori had five Expert analysisSky Sports Peter Fleming: Hes the world No 1 and you dont get to that position without having incredible resolve and will and reserve of mental and emotional stamina. He is a great physical athlete, hits the ball beautifully and his backhand is incredible, but it was just his willingness to keep going and his willingness to butt heads with Nishikori.Mentally and emotionally, it might be more of a strain for him to recover than physically. Knowing what is at stake, I think it will be quite easy for him to get up for the rest of his matches here. Murray had to dig deep to beat Nishikori in what was the longest match in Tour Finals history The matchThere were no less than 17 breaks of serve during their US Open encounter but Nishikori, who could yet finish the year ranked No 3, failed to capitalise on those offered on a plate during an opening set lasting 85 minutes, including 40 unforced errors. Heres Murrays stunning cross-court winner on the run which left Nishikori at the net... After a slow-burner of an opening with both men failing to take opportunities to break, the first set tiebreak lit the blue touchpaper.Murray was forced to produce a remarkable reflex winner from an impossible angle to save a third set point at 6-3. But ultimately the Scot failed take any of his three opportunities created, while the 26-year-old broke his resistance at the fifth time of asking when, not for the first time, Murray missed a forehand to stun the home support.ddddddddddddThat only inspired Murray, who started his fightback with an immediate response in the opening game of the next set. A re-energised Nishikori broke back in the eighth game, but the 29-year-old struck immediately back to send the match into a decider. Nishikori needed a couple of smashes to eventually get past Murray after this exchange... Wimbledon and Olympic champion Murray took advantage of a lucky net cord in the third game to move ahead in the match and he quickly forged ahead by making it a double break advantage.Although Nishikori, who reached the 2014 semi-finals on his debut at the season finale, showed commendable resolve to win three on the spin, but it was the world No 1 who held his nerve to seal a famous win after a tense final game.Murray was in the ice bath immediately afterwards and his powers of recovery will be put to the test over the next few days with Wawrinka waiting on Friday followed by a likely semi-final with big-hitting Canadian Milos Raonic. Heres the moment Murray closed out the match at the second time of asking... The victory made it 21 in a row for the Scot, who needs to match Djokovics performance this week to ensure he holds onto top spot until the end of the year.Murrays win means he has 11,585 points to Djokovics 11,180 but with 275 Davis Cup points to come off the Britons total there is still everything to play for.Check our game-by-game coverage from all group matches at the ATP World Tour Finals in London - including Andy Murray v Stan Wawrinka on Friday - on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad and our Twitter account @skysportstennis. Murray v Nishikori: Match Stats Murray Nishikori Aces 8 0 Double faults 6 4 1st serve points won 75% 72% 2nd serve points won 48% 40% Break points won 4/7 2/11 Unforced errors 39 49 Total points won 130/251 121/251 Upgrade to Sky Sports now to watch Man Utd v Arsenal this Saturday and get the first six months half price! Also See: One of the best matches ever WATCH: How good is Murray? As it happened... Murrays service syndrome over? 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