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Raburn sparks three-run eighth as Tigers hold off Devil Rays

Aug 8, 2007 - 4:22 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Tampa Bay Devil Rays were the perfect aspirin for the defending American League champions.

Rookie Ryan Raburn had two RBI and scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Detroit Tigers posted a 9-6 victory over the Devil Rays on Tuesday night.

The Tigers (63-49) have now put together consecutive wins for the first time since winning four in a row from July 15-19. They ended their season-worst five-game slide in Monday's series opener.

With Detroit holding a 6-2 lead in the eighth inning, manager Jim Leyland decided to pull starter Nate Robertson with two outs and a runner on first in favor of Jason Grilli.

The move proved to be costly.

Delmon Young and Brendan Harris each singled to load the bases for Jonny Gomes, who banged his second career grand slam off Grilli to tie the game at 6-6. Gomes hit his first four-bagger on September 12, 2006, against Baltimore.

"I felt great about my hits," Gomes said. "But a win would have been better."

However, Tampa Bay reliever Dan Wheeler couldn't hold the lead. Raburn doubled to open the eighth and Craig Monroe was hit by a pitch before the pair advanced on Brandon Inge's sacrifice. Curtis Granderson then hit into a fielder's choice, but Raburn beat Harris' throw at the plate for the go-ahead run.

"(Raburn's) a hungry player, and hungry players are dangerous," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.

"That last inning was like an emotional roller coaster," Gomes said. "My homer bought us to the top and some bloop hits off Wheeler brought us back down again."

The Tigers continued to add insurance as All-Star Placido Polanco and Sean Casey capped the three-run uprising with RBI singles off Wheeler (0-1).

"My job was to shut down that inning," Wheeler said. "I could execute my pitches. I felt good, the ball was coming out of my hand well. I just couldn't put the ball were I wanted to. With a line-up like their's, that will hurt you."

Tim Byrdak (1-0) picked up the win and veteran closer Todd Jones got the final three outs for his 30th save for the Tigers, who improved to just 11-15 since the All-Star Break.

"You just can't let a game get away like that," Leyland said. "You have to be able to get one out in that situation."

Robertson was stellar before exiting, allowing two runs and nine hits with a season-high nine strikeouts.

"I gave my team a chance to win, and that's the bottom line," Robertson said. "We won the game. That's all that matters. No one feels worse than (Grilli) right now, but he's had some great games for us, and he'll have more of them."

In the third, Magglio Ordonez laced an RBI single up the middle and scored two batters later on Raburn's run-scoring base hit against starter Jason Hammel for a 6-1 advantage.

Ordonez came up huge again two innings later with a solo shot - his 18th - over the right field wall off reliever Juan Salas as Detroit created a 6-1 bulge. He finished 3-of-5 in raising his AL-leading average to .354.

Casey's RBI single opened the scoring in the first and Raburn and Inge both collected run-scoring extra-base hits in the second as Detroit built a 3-1 edge.

"Nate deserved the win," Casey said. "But at least we got the game as a team. We could have folded after that grand slam, but we got right back after them."

Granderson's leadoff double helped him become the second Tiger in history with at least 30 doubles, 15 triples, 15 home runs and 10 stolen bases in a season.

Hammel was tagged for five runs and 10 hits in four innings to remain winless since tossing two frames of relief on June 24 at Arizona. The second-year righthander is 0-7 as a starter through 13 outings dating to last season.

"I felt good and strong," Hammel said. "I made good pitches that they hit and I made bad pitches that they hit. That's what happens. They a good swinging ball club." It was a tough loss."