KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Angel Berroa and the Kansas City Royals overcame a tumultuous opening inning en route to their first home victory.

Berroa's two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted the Royals to a stirring 6-5 triumph over the Detroit Tigers , who dropped their fifth consecutive game.

After striking out the first two Royals he faced, Detroit reliever Ugueth Urbina (0-2) appeared to have Eli Marrero struck out with a slider, but plate umpire C.B. Bucknor ruled the pitch outside. Urbina, who owns a career 14.00 ERA in 10 appearances against Kansas City, walked Marrero on the next pitch to bring Berroa to the plate.

The 27-year-old Berroa, who blasted 17 homers in his 2003 Rookie of the Year season but only had seven in 2004, hit an 0-1 pitch far over the left-center field wall for his second homer of 2005.

"I tried to hit the ball hard to the gap so the game could be tied," Berroa said. "If you hit the ball hard, something good can happen. It was the perfect swing. He hung a breaking ball. I've never hit the ball that far in the majors. Maybe once in Double-A."

"He's playing the way he did the year before," Royals catcher Alberto Castillo said. "He's going to be a main guy for us."

Despite Urbina's two blown saves and three homers surrendered in six innings this season, Tigers manager Alan Trammell said he had few choices with Kyle Farnsworth sidelined with a strained biceps.

"If Farnsworth is out, I don't know what options I have," Trammell said. "Ugueth is well-suited to this role, but right now it's not happening. The 2-2 pitch to Marrero - sure we would've liked to have it - but you've gotta overcome that."

The Royals fell behind 5-0 in the first inning as starter Jose Lima allowed four hits and a walk, including a three-run homer to Craig Monroe .

"I wanted one pitch back, the two-seamer to Monroe," Lima said. "I left it in the middle of the plate. At first, I thought it was a fly ball. I forget I'm the king of home runs."

In the bottom of the first, Royals manager Tony Pena was ejected by Bucknor for arguing balls and strikes. Pena, who was complaining from the dugout, came onto the field to discuss the ejection and kicked some dirt around the plate before exiting.

"It's automatic whenever you argue balls and strikes," Pena said. "I knew I was going to be tossed. I've been watching too much Lou Pinella. In the top of the first, I thought Jose Lima threw a lot of close pitches and they weren't called strikes. They know we're in this together. I'm going to protect my players."

Lima settled down thereafter, yielding only three singles in the next six innings and giving his offense a chance to come back.

"I gave up five runs in the first, but I kept us in the ballgame," Lima said. "Castillo came out and said, 'If you want to win this ballgame, you better bear down.' I didn't get the win, but the team won."

Kansas City sliced the deficit to 5-2 on a two-run homer by David DeJesus in the third and manufactured runs in the fourth and sixth innings to set the stage for Berroa's heroics.

Jaime Cerda (1-1) tossed a scoreless eighth and Jeremy Affeldt recorded the first two outs of the ninth before leaving with a groin injury. Mike MacDougal , who made the All-Star team as a closer in 2003, induced Carlos Guillen to ground out, ending the game and giving MacDougal his first save since April 28, 2004.

Tigers starter Wil Ledezma allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings.

Detroit's Brandon Inge had two hits but Bobby Higginson , who started in right field in place of recently disabled star Magglio Ordonez , went hitless in four at-bats.

"Overall, as a team, we'll score, and then get shut down," Trammell said. "If we could have added on even a little, it would have turned out differently. It's painful. Somewhere along the line we've got to get it done. This crazy game can be painful ... like right now."