 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez and Dusty Ryan homered and the Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins 7-5 on Sunday.
Ryan, a rookie catcher, hit a two-run homer in his first major league start. Chris Lambert earned his first career win and the Tigers won consecutive games for the first time since Aug. 22-23.
Bobby Seay pitched two innings of relief, Kyle Farnsworth pitched a scoreless eighth and Fernando Rodney a scoreless ninth for his 10th save in 14 opportunities.
Justin Morneau had four RBI, including a two-run triple, for Minnesota, which remains 2 1/2 games behind first-place Chicago in the AL Central. The White Sox lost 3-2 to Los Angeles.
Lambert (1-1) allowed three runs in 5 2-3 innings in his third career start. A winner of 12 games at Triple-A Toledo, he looked to be a hard luck loser until the Tigers offense came alive in the sixth.
Cabrera homered leading off — his 1,000th career hit — and Gary Sheffield doubled down the third-base line before scoring on a single by Marcus Thames to tie the game at 4. Thames was thrown out at second by Delmon Young.  Minnesota starter Glen Perkins allowed a double off the wall to Edgar Renteria and walked Ryan before he was replaced. Reliever Craig Breslow allowed an RBI single to Curtis Granderson before Boof Bonser struck out Placido Polanco to end the inning.
Ordonez led off the seventh with a home run and Thames added a sacrifice fly.
Tied for the league lead in wins for a rookie, Perkins (12-4) was unspectacular for the second straight start.
He allowed nine hits and two earned runs in 5 2-3 innings, largely because Detroit hitters often made Perkins work deep into the count. He threw 97 pitches. In his previous start, Perkins allowed four earned runs and 10 hits in five innings.  Some timely defensive help aided Perkins, 10-1 in his 18 starts since June 1, from having worse results.
Thames led of the fourth with a double, but was thrown out at third base by shortstop Nick Punto on a hit-and-run. One inning later, Perkins allowed a leadoff walk but got Ordonez to ground into a double play.
With two outs in the second, Ryan hit the first pitch from Perkins the opposite way over the right-field baggie for a 2-0 lead. It was the first big league hit for Ryan.
Brian Buscher had an RBI single in the second off Lambert, before Morneau tripled into the right-field corner for a 3-2 Minnesota lead in the third.
Morneau added a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Notes:@ Minnesota won the season series 11-7. ... Ordonez, who has a 12-game hitting streak, went 20-for-42 (.476) against Minnesota this year, including six home runs. ... The crowd of 31,236 pushed Minnesota over the 2 million mark in home attendance for a franchise-best fourth straight season. ... Young has 10 of Minnesota's 33 outfield assists. ... Sheffield ended an 0-for-10 streak with his sixth inning double. |