KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Jeremy Bonderman is establishing himself as one of the top young pitchers in the American League.

Bonderman allowed one run and six hits in eight innings as the Detroit Tigers snapped a five-game losing streak with a 7-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals .

A first-round pick by Oakland in the 2001 draft, Bonderman was traded to the Tigers in a three-way trade involving the New York Yankees in 2002.

"I have nothing but great praise for Jeremy Bonderman ," Tigers first baseman Dmitri Young said. "Bondo isn't going to toot his own horn, but I've got my saxophone."

"I'd definitely put him up there among the best starters in the league right now," added Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge .

Other than being tagged for six runs in the first inning of his start against Cleveland on Sunday, the 22-year-old Bonderman has allowed just three runs in 20 innings this season. The righthander finished the 2004 campaign with a 5-3 record and 2.33 ERA in his last eight starts.

"That's twice now he's just been outstanding," Tigers manager Alan Trammell said. "He's turned the page on Sunday."

"I was eager to get back out there and go to work," Bonderman said.

Bonderman (2-1) struck out five without a walk in this one, throwing 73 of 103 pitches for strikes. His only mistake came in the sixth inning, when Mike Sweeney belted his first homer since August 11.

"He threw his fastball down very well and had no walks; that to me is a good sign," Trammell said.

"I just wanted to give the team a good start," Bonderman said. "I wanted to go right after them, put the ball in play and go as deep as I can. The sinker was good today and I had good location with the fastball."

The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the fourth when Young plated Carlos Guillen with a single and Rondell White lifted a sacrifice fly.

Guillen and Ivan Rodriguez had three hits apiece for the Tigers, who outhit the Royals, 12-6.

Detroit tacked on an insurance run in the seventh on an RBI single by Omar Infante and broke open the game with a four-run ninth that was highlighted by Inge's two-run triple.

"Somewhere along the line we needed to get the big hit, and that might have been the biggest hit of the year," Trammell said of Infante's run-scoring single. "If you keep grinding and keep plugging along, good things will happen; good things happened today."

"We've had a lot of close games and haven't been able to pull them out," Inge said. "It was very important to get a couple of runs for security."

Starter Brian Anderson (1-1) allowed three runs and seven hits in 7 2/3 innings for Kansas City, which has lost four of five.

"I was pleased with the way Brian Anderson threw the ball today," Royals manager Tony Pena said. "He did a great job keeping us in the ballgame."

"I had good life on my stuff and was hitting my spots," Anderson said. "Their guy was just a little bit better."