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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). Adidas Stan Smith Australia . Off-Season Game Plan looks at a Wild team that has a nice mix of proven veterans along with young, inexpensive talent on the rise. When the Wild signed Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, making a big splash in the summer of 2012, it set the franchise on a path to being more competitive, but a big reason that they have been so competitive is the contributions of young players who still have more to give. Adidas Stan Smith Clearance . They say things like "stress is when you dont know what youre doing" and "I wasnt hired to motivate players, I was hired to coach motivated players." They ring as true now as they did when Mularkey heard them the first time playing tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame coach 25 years ago. http://www.cheapstansmithaustralia.com/. PETERSBURG, Fla. Cheap Stan Smith Australia . The former central defender calmly nodded it down and quietly went about celebrating a win with his staff. For a man who has had a lot on his shoulders this season, it was an appropriate moment. Buy Adidas Stan Smith Australia . -- In the stadium program sold at the Miami Dolphins game on Halloween, Richie Incognito was asked whos the easiest teammate to scare. TORONTO -- It was such a bad first period, the Toronto Maple Leafs figured they couldnt duplicate the disaster. They were right in that they responded to coach Randy Carlyles goaltending switch to erase a two-goal deficit. Ultimately Toronto lost 5-4 in a shootout to the Detroit Red Wings in a preview of the Winter Classic, but it was the battling back to get a point that had them feeling slightly more upbeat than usual after a defeat. "Well take the point," captain Dion Phaneuf said. "Coming back, I feel that was a big step for our team to come back against a team that doesnt really give up a whole lot. We did a lot of really good things tonight." The good things for the Leafs (18-16-4) came in the second and third periods when they got goals from Phaneuf and Joffrey Lupul to tie the score and then one from the much-maligned David Clarkson to take the lead. That was a complete reversal from the first period, when they squandered the opening goal from defenceman Cody Franson and gave up three goals in 9 minutes 11 seconds to Pavel Datsyuk, Joakim Andersson and Tomas Jurco. "We score the first goal and then we basically stood around for the rest of the period and watched them do their thing," Carlyle said. "They out-competed us badly in the first period." Starting goaltender James Reimer gave up those three goals on 12 first-period shots. He got the hook in favour of Jonathan Bernier at the first intermission, after Carlyle noticed rebounds bouncing away from Reimer and wasnt happy with Anderssons goal going off his stick and in and Jurco shooting the puck through him. Reimer was understandably unhappy with Carlyles decision, which he respected, and also with his performance. "Definitely not what we had in mind, what I had in mind," said Reimer, who was making a third straight start for the first time this season. "They just scored a couple too many goals. Obviously the second one, that cant go in. It was obviously my fault, a hundred per cent. And the third one, they made a nice play, but I think thats one that I can get done on some days, too." The Leafs looked like a completely different team in the second period in front of Bernier. Carlyle was pleased at how his players got pucks deep, cycled, drew penalties and managed to draw even in the game by scoring twice on former Toronto goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, who wound up giving up four goals on 23 shots. "I dont think I had my best game tonight, at least we were able to step up there and get the win," Gustavsson said. Phaneuf said he and his teammates talked about having a better effort in the second period. That showed, and when Clarkson scored 8:32 into the third period Carlyle hoped that kind of "dirty" goal would be able to carry the Leafs. Instead, the Red Wings (17-12-9) were able to tie it on a goal by Tomas Tatar at 13:44 when Niklas Kronwall won a blue-line puck battle against Phil Kessel. "We made a mistake and we couldnt get a puck out along the wall, guy got in behind us, a rebound and then we lost in a shootout," Carlyle said in summing up the Leafs sixth loss in their past seven games. "I think that the way that game developed in the evening, I think we were fortunate to get a point.dddddddddddd" The Red Wings felt fortunate to win in the shootout on goals by Datsyuk and former Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson. It was their first victory that way this season after losing their first six shootouts. "It was a mental block for us, shootouts, and to win this one tonight hopefully we can put that behind us and start winning a few," said Alfredsson, who scored the winner. "Winning in overtime last game and now winning in a shootout tonight lessens the grip on the stick next time around." Mike Babcock, coach of the Red Wings and Team Canada, pointed out that he doesnt get so hung up on the shootout performance. But hell take the points from this one, Detroits second straight victory following a six-game losing streak. "I think were a pretty even-keeled group," Babcock said. "We just keep on keeping on. Were going to be fine here in the end. Weve got to get players back and then well start playing with some speed and confidence and tempo and everything." The Red Wings were playing without injured captain Henrik Zetterberg (back), goaltender Jimmy Howard (knee), centre Stephen Weiss (sports hernia) and forwards Gustav Nyquist (groin), Johan Franzen (concussion) and Justin Abdelkader (concussion). They got defenceman Danny DeKeyser back after missing 15 games with a shoulder injury. Carlyle saw similarities between the two teams because the Leafs are still without centres Tyler Bozak (oblique) and Dave Bolland (severed tendon in ankle). But the rest of the team is in tact, and players have been quick to brush injuries off as an excuse. The problem Saturday night wasnt lacking players as much as it was another poor start after Fransons goal 7:15 in. "I didnt think we were ready and we came out a little bit sloppy," said Clarkson, whose go-ahead goal was just his third of the season. "When you allow a team with that much skill and talent to get ahead of you, its hard to battle back, but I think we showed something tonight by battling back. Weve got to be ready from the drop of the puck, be ready to play the way we know we can, the way we did in the second and third." The Leafs play for the final 40 minutes of regulation represented the biggest positive of the night, which was a chance for the teams to feel each other out before meeting in the Winter Classic Jan. 1 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. That game is too far from now for either Toronto or Detroit to focus on. The Leafs concern was about their good and bad effort that led to this shootout loss. "It takes a toll on you trying to dig out of a two-goal hole like that," said Lupul, who had a goal and an assist. "If we take one thing from the game, its probably get off to a little better start." NOTES -- Kessel was held without a goal for the eighth time in 10 games since Bozak went out with his oblique injury. The star winger has two goals and five assists in that time. Defencemen Mark Fraser and Paul Ranger and forward Frazer McLaren were healthy scratches for the Leafs for the second straight game. ' ' '