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Ordonez homers twice as Tigers sweep Rangers

Apr 24, 2008 - 9:32 PM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Magglio Ordonez and the Detroit Tigers have awakened from their early-season slumber.

Ordonez hit two home runs and drove in four runs Thursday as the Tigers completed a three-game series sweep of the Texas Rangers with an 8-2 victory.

Ordonez hit a solo homer off Jason Jennings (0-4) in the third inning to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead, then snapped a 2-2 tie with a three-run shot in the fifth.

"It was just a matter of time," Ordonez said. "We've got a lot of good players in here with good track records. Now, we got into our momentum, our rhythm. We're going to start winning."

Detroit scored 37 runs in the series, including 19 on Wednesday, when leadoff hitter Curtis Granderson made his first appearance of the season. Granderson had been on the disabled list with a broken finger suffered in spring training.

The Tigers (10-13) have won eight of 11 after a 2-10 start to begin their trek back toward the .500 mark.

Detroit starter Jeremy Bonderman allowed only two hits, a solo homer to Michael Young in the first and a single to Hank Blalock in the fifth. But Bonderman struggled with his control, walking seven, and was pulled with two outs in the fifth.

Bonderman also struck out seven but did not throw enough strikes and and ran up his pitch count - 111 when he was pulled. Still, he limited the damage, working around his control problems.

"I was actually pleased with him today, to be honest," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "I know he had a lot of walks and that's just not conducive to winning games."

Zach Miner (1-1) earned the win with 3 1/3 hitless innings in relief of Bonderman, allowing only one walk.

"I thought I owed the starters at least one game like that," Miner said.

Bonderman left after walking David Murphy with the bases loaded to force in the tying run. Miner kept the contest tied by getting Adam Melhuse to ground out.

The Tigers went back to work in the bottom half against Jennings, who continued his rough start. He yielded five runs in five innings as the Rangers suffered their seventh straight loss.

"I threw well for the first four innings," Jennings said.

The fifth was a different story, as Placido Polanco walked and Marcus Thames singled in front of Ordonez's three-run homer.

"Maggs, when he's getting a mistake, he's hitting it hard," Leyland said. "That's what great hitters do and he's a great hitter."

Granderson, who went 3-for-6 in his season debut, ignited the Tigers' offense with a homer leading off the bottom of the first.

"The good thing about this team is anybody can carry the team for a week any time," Ordonez said. "We have a lot of good players."

The Rangers did not take advantage of the eight walks, stranding 11. After Blalock's single in the fifth, they were held hitless until the ninth.

"Even the greatest teams have losing streaks," Rangers right fielder Josh Hamilton said. "We need to have a complete game, where the pitching and hitting come together."