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Raburn homers twice as Tigers rally to defeat White Sox

Jul 26, 2007 - 5:28 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- After watching the Chicago White Sox rally from a six-run deficit the previous night, Ryan Raburn and the Detroit Tigers returned the favor Wednesday.

Raburn had his first career two-homer game and drove in a career-high seven runs as the Tigers rallied to defeat the White Sox, 13-9.

"It was one of those games, everything was just going my way, it was an exciting game," Raburn said. "You try to look for a good pitch to hit and you try not to miss them, and tonight I didn't miss them."

Sean Casey had two hits and two RBI and Curtis Granderson scored three times for Detroit, which lost a doubleheader to Chicago on Tuesday, including an 8-7 defeat in the second game after leading, 7-1, through five innings.

Detroit trailed on three occasions - by 3-0, 5-2 and 7-5 - before erupting for five runs in the fifth inning. Raburn kept the Tigers in the game by hitting a solo homer in the third and a three-run blast in the fourth, giving him three blasts this season.

"What I like about him is he's a hungry player." Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "I like his approach, you're always going to get the effort and he's always going to be prepared."

Trailing, 7-5, in the decisive fifth frame, Detroit sent nine men to the plate. Brandon Inge had a one-out RBI single and Granderson a two-out run scoring single to tie the game at 7-7.

After Granderson's hit put runners on first and third, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen mercifully removed starter Jose Contreras. However, Boone Logan then gave up an RBI double to Raburn before surrendering a two-run single to Casey to make it 10-7.

Tigers reliever Jason Grilli (5-2) earned the win by going three innings, yielding two runs and three hits. He struck out two and improved to 3-0 in the month of July.

Tim Byrdak pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth inning for Detroit.

Contreras (5-13) was horrendous, allowing nine runs, 12 hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings for his sixth straight loss. The struggling righthander, who struck out three, has also lost nine of his last 10 decisions, increasing his ERA to 6.22.

"He didn't have it out there today on the mound," Guillen said. "Tonight he didn't have anything and it was tough to see."

The 35-year-old allowed a career-high 10 runs in his last start vs. the Boston Red Sox on Friday and his 13 losses are also a career worst.

Tigers starter Kenny Rogers wasn't much better. The veteran lefthander allowed a season-high seven runs, seven hits and three walks in four innings, his shortest outing in six starts since coming off the disabled list on June 22.

"Even though you're not out there long enough to do the things you're expected to do, it's really nice to see us win this ballgame," Rogers said.

Tadahito Iguchi hit a two-run double in the sixth to cut the deficit to 10-9, but a run-scoring base hit by Omar Infante followed by a two-run single by Raburn in the ninth finished the scoring. The Tigers pounded out 19 hits

Jermaine Dye staked Chicago to an early 3-0 lead when he hit a three-run homer - his 17th - in the first inning to make it 3-0.

After Detroit cut the deficit to 3-2 when Carlos Guillen scored on a double-play ground out in the second and Raburn hit his solo shot in the third, Josh Fields added a two-run blast in the bottom of the frame to give Chicago a three-run lead.

Raburn tied the game at 5-5 with his three-run smash in the fourth before Juan Uribe and Andy Gonzalez each hit solo homers in the bottom of the inning for the White Sox to make it 7-5.