KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Bruce Chen put a stop to a bad string of starts for the Kansas City Royals. Chen picked up the Royals beleaguered rotation with seven solid innings, pitching Kansas City past the Detroit Tigers 5-2 Sunday. Chen (7-2), who moved into the rotation on July 12 after 19 relief appearances, limited the AL Central leaders to five hits and two runs. He earned the first victory for a Royals starter on their seven-game homestand. "I was pounding the strike zone, mixing in all my pitches, throwing different angles," Chen said. Eric Hosmer had three hits, including a three-run homer in the fifth inning. The Royals stayed close in the wild-card chase, taking the final two games of the series after losing 16-2 Friday. "After that game, it was a bad feeling," Hosmer said. "They just flat out beat us that day. Just to forget it as a team and bounce back like that shows a lot about the character on the team and pitching staff." The Kansas City starters had an 8.00 ERA in the first six games of the homestand, allowing 24 runs on 41 hits and 16 walks in 27 innings. The other four starters had a 9.43 ERA in that span and had failed to make it beyond 4 1-3 innings in four starts. Hosmer homered off Doug Fister after Alex Gordon and Emilio Bonifacio singled with two outs. Fister (12-8) allowed five runs on eight hits in 6 1-3 innings. Chen kept the Tigers hitters off-balance all afternoon. "We hit a lot of lazy fly balls," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "The credit goes to Chen. He changes speeds and got us out in front a lot. You know what youre going to get with him. He changed speeds and got us out in front and mixed his pitches. He was very effective." Greg Holland allowed Prince Fielders double with two out in the ninth, but collected his 40th save in 43 chances. Joakim Soria, Jeff Montgomery and Dan Quisenberry are the only other Royals relievers to earn 40 saves in a season. Jose Iglesias, who had not played since leaving the game Wednesday with shin splints, homered in the third inning after Alex Avila had singled, giving the Tigers a 2-0 lead. "Chen pitched how he always pitches," Avila said. "You can look back at any game hes pitched and its always the same. He mixes a lot of pitches, works in and out, changes speeds, and never gives in. "After he gets you out, you go back to the dugout saying, Man, how did I get out?" Iglesias hit his second home run since the Tigers acquired him in a July 30 trade with Boston. "After that pitch, Chen was locked in the entire day," Hosmer said. "We knew if could get a lead and hand it off to the bullpen, wed be in a good spot." The Royals got a run in the fourth when Billy Butler grounded a single. Jarrod Dyson led off the Royals seventh with a triple into the left-field corner and scored when Gordon dunked a fly ball into shallow right over a drawn-in Tigers infield for a single. Chen pitched out of trouble in the sixth. Austin Jackson led off with a double and Miguel Cabrera came up -- he had five career home runs off Chen in 36 at-bats. This time Cabrera hit a comebacker and Chen threw out Jackson at third. Chen fell behind 3-0 to Fielder, who then looked at the next three pitches -- all strikes. "It was a huge play with Miguel," Chen said. "We have a two-run lead and the first pitch, he hits a groundball to me." NOTES: Fielder played in his 486th consecutive game, the longest active streak in the majors. ... C Salvador Perez, who hit a two-run homer Saturday night, was not in the Royals lineup Sunday. Manager Ned Yost said he decided to rest Perez with temperatures reaching 100 degrees and the Royals in a stretch of 44 games in 44 days. ... Leyland said OF Nick Castellanos would start again Monday after making his first major league start Saturday. "Hes got a feel for hitting," Leyland said. "Hes a confident kid in the batters box. 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The story goes like this. “Game 5, known as "The Flu Game", was one of Michael Jordans most memorable. Fake Lakers Jerseys . People familiar with the case told The Associated Press on Friday that arbitrator Fredric Horowitz could issue his decision this weekend. SALT LAKE CITY -- Gordon Haywards pinpoint shooting got the Utah Jazz off to their best start of the season and Marvin Williams made the plays at the end for their most impressive victory of the season. Williams scored five points in the final two minutes, Hayward broke out of a shooting slump to score 29 points and the Jazz earned their first back-to-back wins of the season with a 109-103 victory over the Rockets on Monday night. "What a huge win for us," Williams said. "Houston has been playing really, really well. For them to come into our building and put up a big-time fight and then for us to come out on top is a great feeling." With Utah clinging to a 101-98 lead, Williams stole James Hardens pass and raced down for a dunk with 2 minutes left. "Thankfully I was able to take advantage of a miscommunication on their part. It was a huge break for us," Williams said. Williams, who has been playing with a mask since breaking his nose last month, then hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 59 seconds to go to boost the lead to 108-100. "Gordon made a very, very unselfish play," Williams said. "I thought he was going to shoot it. He was really going and had been making plays all night for us. Im glad I stayed there and stayed ready." Rookie Trey Burke posted career highs of 21 points and six assists for Utah, which shot 54 per cent and made 10 of 17 from beyond the arc. The Jazz were coming off a 112-104 win over the Suns on Saturday Harden had 15 of his season-best 37 points in the fourth quarter to keep the Rockets close, but they couldnt get enough defensive stops. "We just didnt defend. We go through mental lapses where we dont lock down on the defensive end. We gave up too many points to fight our way back," Harden said. For a change, it was the Jazz making crucial plays at the end. "Were learning from the other games and not making the same mistakes twice," Hayward said. "Dont get me wrong, we still have a lot of improvement as a basketball team and as individuals, but its good to see we didnt let this one slip away like we did early in the year." Dwight Howard had 15 points and Francisco Garcia and Omri Casspi had 13 apiece as Houston lost for only the second time in its last 10 games. The Rockets have averaged 111 points on 51 per cent shooting during the stretch. Harden weaved through a trio of Jazz players and scored a crafty llayup to tie the game at 86-all with 8:07 to play.dddddddddddd Alec Burks answered with a 3-pointer and the Jazz led the rest of the way. Burke started the season on the injured list with a broken finger but has found his rhythm in the past few games. His hot play has coincided with Utahs best stretch of the season as the Jazz have won three of four after dropping 14 of their first 15 games. "Its a matter of the players and coaches having confidence in me and just taking what the defence is giving me," Burke said. The Jazz put the ball in the rookies hands and let him make plays down the stretch. In the fourth quarter, Burke had seven points and six assists and marked a career-best in points for second straight game. Add in Haywards savvy all-court game and the Jazz finally look like a formidable team at times. "The greatest thing was (Hayward and Burke) made plays for their teammates," Utah coach Tyrone Corbin said. "They attacked and were able to get everybody involved and it threw (Houston) off a little bit." Hayward made 12 of 18 shots to regain his shooting confidence. His early hot streak sparked the Jazz to lead by as many as 14 points in the first half. Over the previous nine games, Hayward made just 36 of 123 attempts for 29 per cent. "I got going early by getting some easy buckets in transition and anytime you see the ball go through the hoop like that, it sets the tone," said Hayward, who had 17 points in the first quarter. The Jazz shot 59 per cent from 3-point range, while Houston hit 32 per cent (9 of 28) from beyond the arc. The two teams played here exactly one month ago when Chandler Parsons scored 24 points and the Rockets outscored the Jazz 64-37 in the second half to win 104-93. Parsons sat out this game with a sore back and the Rockets had only Harden and Aaron Brooks, who had 13 points, as playmakers in the fourth quarter. "We had plenty of guys to win this game today. It had nothing to do with who wasnt there," Houston coach Kevin McHale said. Since Burke recovered sufficiently to play starter minutes, the Jazz have reached 100 points in three games for the first time all season. Before this run, Utah only had one contest in which they topped the century mark. NOTES: Jeremy Lin missed his third game with a sprained and bruised right knee. ... Houston was outscored 36-23 in the first quarter. ... The Rockets had 54 points in the paint. ' ' '