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Ordonez's two homers helps Tigers crush Twins

May 25, 2008 - 5:00 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- The fans at Comerica Park would like to see more performances like this from their beloved Detroit Tigers.

Magglio Ordonez homered twice and drove in a season-best six runs as the Tigers erupted for a convincing 19-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday night.

With arguably one of the most potent lineups in the American League, Detroit has been one of the major disappointments offensively this season. However, scoring has not been a problem for the club in the past few games.

The reigning American League batting champion, Ordonez got things started in the first inning with a two-run shot off Twins starter Boof Bonser (2-6). Ordonez struck again two frames later with a two-run double to right, snapping a 2-2 tie.

The 34-year-old Ordonez completed his impressive outing with his second two-run blast of the game during a six-run fourth as the Tigers extended the lead to 12-3. It completed his second multi-homer contest of the season.

"He's an outstanding hitter, and when he's zeroed in or locked in, he led the (American League) in hitting," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "That pretty much says it all."

Nate Robertson (3-5) benefited from the abundant support, allowing three runs and seven hits with four strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings for his first home win since August 12.

Leyland felt the offensive support helped Robertson a lot.

"It gave him a chance to relax, obviously, and pitch a little bit," Leyland said. "I think that's a good thing, because that's the same thing you have to do in tight games. You have to be able to concentrate, but you also have to be relaxed. I think concentration and relaxation are keys to a lot of guys that have success in this game."

The 6-2 lefthander also ended his personal three-game winless streak while improving to 8-8 lifetime against Minnesota.

Ordonez was not the lone offensive star in this one.

Gary Sheffield collected three RBI and rookie Matt Joyce drove in two runs for the Tigers, who pounded out 17 hits for their fourth win in five games.

It's one of those nights where everything you hit hard falls in, and you keep sending them up there," Leyland said. "There's nothing you can do about it, no matter which team you are."

"You see these guys over there, they've got a lineup that will just absolutely kill you if you don't make good pitches, and we saw that," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We didn't make good pitches and they kept scoring and scoring and scoring."

Bonser surrendered nine runs and seven hits in just three-plus frames. It was the righthander's shortest outing since going 2 2/3 innings in a loss at Cleveland on July 27.

Minnesota reliever Brian Bass also was abused, giving up seven runs and seven hits in just 1 1/3 frames.

Twins rookie Matt Macri shined in his major league debut, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.