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Guillen drives in four runs as Tigers top Twins

May 12, 2007 - 4:38 AM MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Carlos Guillen had three hits, a home run, and drove in four runs and Gary Sheffield also homered to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 7-3 victory over Johan Santana and the Minnesota Twins in the first of a three-game series on Friday.

Mike Maroth improved to 3-0 for the Tigers, who won for the 10th time in 11 games, including winning their fifth straight road contest.

Guillen's two-run single to center field in the seventh off Jesse Crain increased the Tigers' lead to 4-1 and his two-run blast in the ninth provided a 7-3 cushion. He also tripled, falling just a double short of the cycle while supplying three of Detroit's 13 hits.

"I'm just trying to do the same thing every at-bat," Guillen said. "Just concentrate, find a good pitch to hit and don't miss it. That's my approach."

Sheffield opened the scoring with a solo homer - his sixth of the season - in the first inning.

Maroth (3-0) allowed one run on nine hits in a season-high tying 6 2/3 innings to earn his first win in his last five starts, despite the fact the Tigers are 7-0 in Maroth's seven appearances this season. The lefthander bounced back from his worst start of the season last Saturday at Kansas City, where he allowed a season-high five earned runs.

"It's my job, trying to keep the team in the game and give us a chance to win," Maroth said. "I've been able to do that. I've given up my fair share of runs so far, but our team has put up a lot of runs when I've pitched."

"The best thing about him is he competes," Leyland said. "He knows he's not an overpowering guy, but he competes and makes pitches and never gives in, and that's a hell of a compliment."

Santana (4-3), meanwhile, lost for the third time in his last four home starts - a shocking number considering Santana had gone 24 straight home starts without a loss before the Tampa Bay Devil Rays broke that streak on April 14. Santana had gone 17-0 during that stretch but is just 2-3 at the Metrodome this season.

The two-time Cy Young winner allowed two runs on six hits with a pair of walks and six strikeouts, but got little help from his offense as the Twins lost their third straight game to drop below .500 for the first time this season.

"As long as you do your best and show that you're putting in a good effort and trying to do your job, that's all that matters to me," Santana said. "It doesn't matter the result of the game, if you win or lose, as long as you try hard and give yourself the best you can to help the team."

Michael Cuddyer hit a two-out single in the bottom of the frame to plate Luis Castillo, but Maroth then shut down the Twins. He allowed only three more Twins to reach scoring position, scattering five hits and two walks in his final 5 2/3 innings.

The offensive futility was nothing new for Minnesota, as it finished with three runs or less for the sixth time in their last seven games. Santana has received 10 runs of support in his last four home starts.

Minnesota did manage 11 hits in the game - its most since May 3 at Tampa Bay - but left nine runners stranded.

"We've just got to get a few more guys in the lineup swinging together," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said after watching the game from his office in the clubhouse because of arthroscopic knee surgery earlier in the day. "This game is in cycles. Right now it's not a good cycle for us. We've got to figure out a way to get out of it."

"We hit the ball hard today, we had some guys hit bullets," Minnesota outfielder Torii Hunter said. "It was all about luck. At the time it wasn't there for us. I thought we hit Maroth pretty good, it just wasn't there. Right now we stink and we don't have luck. So, what can I say?"

Maroth got all the help he needed in the second inning, as Craig Monroe hit a one-out double and scored when Brandon Inge singled two batters later for a 2-1 edge.

Curtis Granderson tripled off Matt Guerrier in the eighth inning to score Inge for a 5-1 lead.

"We are hitting pretty good right now," Guillen said. "Everybody is. We've got a pretty good lineup."

Tigers reliever Fernando Rodney gave up a two-run homer to Justin Morneau in the bottom of the eighth inning and Todd Jones logged the ninth as the Tigers improved to 2-2 against the Twins this season after going 9-2 to start the 2006 campaign against them.

But Detroit knows better than to get comfortable with a slim lead in the American League Central Division and a 5 1/2-game cushion over the defending champion Twins, who have received some heat for their recent play -- much to the surprise Leyland.

"This team has won the Central Division four of the last five years, they've got the MVP, the batting champion, the Cy Young, they got off to a tough start last year - a worse start - and won the Central Division," Leyland said. "This is an outstanding club with what I consider the best manager in the league managing it. I was shocked, but that's not my business."

The Twins were 12 1/2 games out of first place in June of 2006 and trailed by 10 1/2 games on August 10 before coming back to steal the division from the Tigers on the final day of the regular season.