DETROIT (AP) – Amid all the talk about Kansas City’s promising farm system and bright future, the current Royals are quietly off to a nice start.

Wilson Betemit went 4 for 4 with two doubles, and the Royals beat the mistake-prone Detroit Tigers 9-5 on Sunday. Luke Hochevar pitched seven solid innings for Kansas City, and every Royals starter had a hit.

Kansas City took two of three from the Tigers and improved to 6-3. Not bad, considering many of the team’s top prospects might be at least a year from making an impact.

“We feel great,” said Jeff Francoeur, who hit a single and a triple. “We’re here, and it’s our turn to go out there and show what we can do. I think you watch – every guy is just doing the best they can, and hopefully it’s good enough. Right now it is.”

Miguel Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta and Alex Avila all homered for Detroit, but the Tigers made four errors.

Hochevar (1-1) gave up the three homers, but Detroit managed only two other hits off him. He easily outdueled Rick Porcello (0-2) in a matchup of former first-round draft picks. Three relievers finished for the Royals, with Joakim Soria getting the final two outs for his third save.

It was the first four-hit game for Betemit since July 14, 2007. He also drew a walk.

“That was a great day – not only for me. The team played really hard,” Betemit said. “We’re starting good right now. We have to keep going.”

If the Royals keep this up, their fans might have more to look forward to this summer than just checking out reports from the team’s minor league system – which is considered one of baseball’s best.

“I know this team has great prospects in the minor leagues,” Betemit said. “When you see those guys in the minor leagues – all those young guys, you’ve seen in spring training, those are great players. You’re going to see those guys soon.”

Hochevar was the Royals’ opening-day starter after the team traded ace Zack Greinke. He was sharp against the Tigers, striking out six without a walk. He allowed four runs, three earned.

Porcello, on the other hand, was in trouble from the start. He made a wild pickoff throw in the first inning, putting a man on third with one out. He managed to pitch out of that jam, but Kansas City broke through in the third.

After a walk to Chris Getz, Melky Cabrera slapped a double down the left-field line, and Ryan Raburn’s throw in to second sailed high for an error, allowing Getz to score and Cabrera to take third. Alex Gordon drove in Cabrera with a groundout.

Peralta homered in the bottom half, but Kansas City answered with a run in the fourth. The Royals then scored two in the fifth, again with help from the sloppy Tigers. After a run-scoring triple by Francoeur and a walk by Betemit, Matt Treanor hit a potential double-play grounder to third base that could have ended the inning. Instead, Brandon Inge threw wide of second for another error, and a run came home.

Porcello allowed five runs on nine hits in five innings. He struck out two and walked three.

“As the game went on, I didn’t do a good job of mixing my pitches. I got into a pattern, and they got all over that and started waiting on my sinker,” Porcello said. “The pickoff was a bad throw, but that wasn’t my issue today.”

Avila hit a solo homer in the sixth. Umpires reviewed the play because a fan reached over a railing to catch the ball in right field, but it appeared the ball was above the wall.

Betemit drove in a run in the seventh with a double when right fielder Brennan Boesch was unable to make the catch while jumping near the wall. Alcides Escobar made it 7-2 later in the inning with an RBI single.

Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer in the bottom half, but another wild pickoff throw – this one by Detroit reliever Daniel Schlereth – helped Kansas City score a run in the eighth.

“I don’t mind physical errors, but teams are going to take advantage of them,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “On the two bad throws by our pitchers, that let a runner go from first to third, which means they can score on a sacrifice fly, so it is even more damaging.”

Betemit led off the ninth with his second double, and Getz’s sacrifice fly made it 9-4.

NOTES: Detroit DH Victor Martinez lobbed a few batting practice pitches to his son before the game. Victor Jose, 6, showed good edge-of-the-infield power while hitting from both sides of the plate. His father is also a switch hitter. … The temperature at game time was 64 degrees, about 20 degrees warmer than for Detroit’s first two home games. … Kansas City’s Billy Butler extended his hitting streak to eight games – and 22 straight against the Tigers.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

POSTED: 12:06 pm CDT April 3, 2011

SURPRISE, Ariz. — The Kansas City Royals optioned left-hander Everett Teaford and right-hander Kevin Pucetas to Triple-A Omaha in the Pacific Coast League.

Teaford was 0-1 with a 22.85 ERA in three spring training games, allowing 11 runs on 14 hits, two of them home runs, and four walks in 4 1/3 innings. He led the Texas League with 14 victories last season.

Pucetas was 0-1 with a save and a 9.00 ERA in four spring games. He was acquired from the San Francisco Giants in the trade for Jose Guillen.

In other moves Saturday, the Royals reassigned non-roster pitchers John Lamb, Will Smith, Chris Dwyer and Steven Shell to the minor-league camp. The moves left the Royals with 53 players in camp.

Athletes and their attitudes towards reporters aren’t always friendly, but that’s nothing new.  Kansas City Royals catcher Jason Kendall, however, took attitude to a new level on Monday when he jumped into another player’s interview.

610 Sports’ Nick Wright was questioning Royals prospect Mike Moustakas about the upcoming season and the possibility of having to start in the minor leagues.

That’s when Kendall exploded.

Kendall, who wasn’t part of the interview, ripped Wright and asked him to “rewind” himself.

In the audio that is now available online, Wright asks Moustakas a simple question before he’s ambushed.

“There’s a decent chance that no matter how well you do this spring training, you might still start the year off in the minors just because of Baseball’s rules and wanting to hold on to eligibility, all that stuff. Do you think about that?”

Kendall immediately responds, interrupting Moustakas.

“No, he wants to stay in the minor leagues all [expletive] year. Are you [expletive] me right now?”

Eventually, Wright apologizes for the misunderstanding, even though he’s clearly not in the wrong, and was able to finish the interview with Moustakas, who wasn’t offended by the question.

“It wouldn’t bother me one bit just because it’s what’s best for the Royals organization. [Kansas City general manager Dayton Moore's] on board with the plan, the plan is to win a championship, and whatever he says goes, ya know.”

In March 2010, Kendall went through a messy divorce with his now ex-wife, Chantel.  She alleged that Kendall abused Adderall and alcohol, which made him “more violent and his behavior less predictable.”

Listen to the audio here. Warning: this clip contains adult language.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)—Goodbye, Johnny Damon(notes). So long, Carlos Beltran(notes). See ya later, Jermaine Dye(notes).

And now, adios, Zack Greinke(notes).

Greinke, the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner, became the latest in a long line of All-Stars to leave the Kansas City Royals in the prime of their careers when he was traded Sunday to Milwaukee.

For some, it’s been about money. For others, including Greinke apparently, the drive to depart was spurred by a thirst to compete.

The Royals bowed to Greinke’s trade demand because he was not satisfied that a bevy of young talent working its way through the minor leagues would be ready to win by the time his contract expires in 2012. So he got out, just like Damon, Beltran and Dye, who all went on to star for big-time winners in Boston, New York and Chicago, respectively.

“The history of these deals will tell you you’re not going to get another Cy Young Award winner and you’re not going to get players who are going to compete for the MVP,” general manager Dayton Moore said. “But what we tried to do was get the right players that fit with who we are and what we have coming.

“The bottom line is we win more games in the future and this puts us in a better position to win in 2012.”

By then, the Royals are planning for the first wave of promising players to be ready to start winning in the majors. They include first-round picks Mike Moustakas(notes) at third base and Eric Hosmer at first base and several pitchers who are showing well in their journey up through the minor leagues.

“We would love to be sitting here discussing a long-term contract with Zack Greinke,” Moore said Sunday, shortly after the blockbuster deal was announced. “You want to hold onto your best players forever. That’s a formula for winning championships as well, but there has to be a willing partner.”

Moore signed Greinke to a multiyear deal that took the pitcher through 2012. But the desire to get out of Kansas City was enough to make the sometimes-moody right-hander waive a no-trade clause in his contract that would have enabled him to veto a deal with certain clubs, including the Brewers.

In return, Moore got four players he thinks will blend well with Kansas City’s long-term plan—shortstop Alcides Escobar(notes), outfielder Lorenzo Cain(notes) and right-handed pitchers Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress(notes). The Royals also sent shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt(notes) and cash to the Brewers.

The 24-year-old Escobar hit .235 with 14 doubles, four home runs, 10 triples and 41 RBIs for the Brewers last season in his first full year in the majors. The 10 triples set a franchise record for a rookie.

Cain, 24, batted .306 with 11 doubles, one home run and 13 RBIs in 43 games for the Brewers this year. Moore said he will compete for the center-field job with Melky Cabrera(notes), acquired just a few days ago.

The 20-year-old Odorizzi was the Brewers’ minor league pitcher of the year in 2010 with a 7-3 record and 3.43 ERA in 23 appearances for Class-A Wisconsin in the Midwest League.

Jeffress, a first-round draft pick in 2006, missed the start of the 2010 season while finishing a 100-game suspension for testing positive a second time for marijuana.

“We got a young shortstop and a young center fielder and a great-looking young pitcher in Jake Odorizzi and a right-handed pitcher who we feel his troubles are behind him,” Moore said. “He’s got a terrific arm.”

One All-Star the Royals appear to have locked up is Joakim Soria(notes), one of baseball’s top closers. Moore said he understands fans’ frustration when so many other good players keep hurrying out of town.

“We understand and recognize the importance of signing our best players to long-term contracts and we’ll always look to do that,” he said. “But at the same time, there comes a point within the negotiations and the discussions that it’s rather apparent that the player does not want to be here long-term, it makes the most sense for your baseball team and your fan base to move forward and make a deal that will potentially make your team better in the future.”