KANSAS CITY -- Led by Reggie Sanders, the Royals delivered their best offensive performance since Opening Day. However, Gil Meche fashioned a start that didn't match his Opening Day gem.

The two showings resulted in a back-and-forth contest culminating in a loss, 6-5, to the Tigers on Saturday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.

"It was a well-played game by both teams; we kept answering and then they kept answering," Sanders said. "It wasn't a win, and that's what it is all about -- winning."

The five-spot tied the same amount of runs the Royals scored in the previous three games combined. On the other hand, Meche's six earned runs represented the highest runs permitted by a Royals starting pitcher this year -- and was one fewer than KC starters allowed in the first four games.

"I think he was getting the ball up more than Opening Day," manager Buddy Bell said. "I thought for the most part, he was OK. He got some balls up that he got hurt by that you certainly would have liked to have back, but overall, I think he battled pretty good."

Meche, who tossed 7 1/3 brilliant innings on a beautiful afternoon against the Red Sox four days ago, didn't have the same command and location. Facing a Tigers lineup in 25-degree temperatures and swirling winds, the right-hander allowed three homers for the first time since Sept. 22, 2004.

"I never felt like the weather was bothering me," Meche said. "I just couldn't find a rhythm on the mound with my offspeed pitches, and I kept falling behind."

Against Boston, the right-hander tossed first-pitch strikes to 17 of 27 hitters and constantly worked ahead in the count. On Saturday, he mixed just 14 first-pitch strikes among 29 hitters and seven innings.

"The other day, it seemed that everything that came out of my hand was a strike, and today, it seemed like I was trying to find it pretty much every inning," Meche said. "I couldn't get it to where I wanted to be."

With two out in the first inning, Gary Sheffield hit a solo shot that barely crept over the left-field fence and stayed just inside the foul line.

The Royals tied the game an inning later, when Sanders -- seeing his first at-bat of the season -- doubled to left and scored on an Emil Brown single.

The Tigers struck back in the third with three runs off Meche, mixing four hits and a sacrifice fly.

"They had some ground balls that found some holes and that could have gone either way, but that's the way the game is," he said.

And the Royals tied it again in the third against left-hander Mike Maroth -- likely the easiest starting pitcher KC has seen this season after facing Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Justin Verlander in the first four games.

"Maroth has been pretty good for them the last couple years, but for the most part, I think what we did was we made [Maroth] throw strikes, except for a couple times where we could have been a little bit more patient with men in scoring position," Bell said.

Sanders provided the major third-inning blow, smoking a game-tying homer down the left-field line. The three runs tied the highest single-inning total for KC in 2007.

"It was a sinker that he tried to cut in, and I ended up getting the head out there," Sanders said.

But Meche couldn't keep the lead, allowing solo homers to Ivan Rodriguez and Curtis Granderson in the next two innings.

"I threw a lot of pitches early in counts that were down in the zone, and I couldn't get the ball elevated," Meche said.

The Royals had their chances the rest of the way.

They got within one when Sanders -- who had his first three-hit game since Aug. 10, 2006 and finished with two RBIs and three runs scored -- singled and scored in the sixth.

The Royals had a runner in scoring position in the seventh and had two on and two out against Joel Zumaya in the eighth, but the fireballer struck out Mark Teahen. David DeJesus ran into an out in the ninth, ending the Royals' final opportunity at tying the game and giving Meche the loss.

"He kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win; we just couldn't take advantage of the opportunities," Bell said.