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Cabrera, Tigers throttle Rangers

Sep 18, 2008 - 5:13 AM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- Miguel Cabrera belted a three-run homer and six players drove in at least two runs as the Detroit Tigers snapped a six-game skid with a 17-4 thrashing of the Texas Rangers on Wednesday.

Magglio Ordonez had four RBI for the Tigers, who avoided being swept by posting nine runs in the fifth inning and five more in the sixth.

Edgar Renteria collected three RBI while Ryan Raburn, Brandon Inge and Dusty Ryan each drove in a pair of runs for Detroit, which took advantage of two errors and nine walks by Texas.

"It was nice because everybody was swinging the bat good," said Ordonez, who pulled into a virtual tie with Boston's Dustin Pedroia for the American League batting lead at .326. "That's how you win ballgames. We haven't had that in a long time. I'm really happy we won today."

"We just came out tonight, we swung the bats, we got some big hits," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "It's great to win ballgames, that's what we're trying to do. We want to win as many as we can."

Brandon Boggs had three RBI for the Rangers.

The offense may have gotten all the attention, but the real story for Detroit centered on oft-injured righthander Freddy Garcia, who made his first start in over a year.

It was a triumphant return to the mound for Garcia (1-0), as he allowed one unearned run and two hits in five innings with three strikeouts and one walk.

"I feel great, I was happy to be here. I'm glad," said Garcia, who went 1-5 with a 5.90 ERA in 11 starts with Philadelphia before undergoing rotator cuff surgery last season.

"It was like riding a bike for that guy," Leyland said. "I was shocked, to be honest with you. I didn't expect him to do as well as he did. I'm so happy for him. I don't even know Freddy that well, but I'm so tickled to death."

It was the first start since June 8 of last season with the Phillies for the 31-year-old, who looked much more like the pitcher who won 116 games from 1999-2006 before being plagued by injuries. Garcia signed with Detroit on August 14 and made one rehab start at Class AAA Toledo on August 23.

"For me, it's been one year, really hard for me to be away from baseball and doing my therapy trying to get back, and hopefully I did tonight," he said. "I pitched my game and threw my pitches, like I always do."

Leading, 2-1, after four innings, the Tigers broke open the game with a nine-run eruption in the fifth in which every hitter scored. An intentional walk to Gary Sheffield loaded the bases before Renteria ripped a two-run single off Luis Mendoza, who relieved starter Dustin Nippert (3-5).

Raburn plated a pair with a triple, Ryan drove in a run with a single and, three batters later, Marcus Thames made it 8-1 with an RBI base hit.

Ordonez then hit a bases-loaded grounder to shortstop Ramon Vazquez, who was filling in for an injured Michael Young. Vazquez watched the ball hop over his glove, allowing all three runners to score for an 11-1 cushion.

"It got out of hand," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "We couldn't put the fire out."

Mendoza faced six batters in the inning and each one scored, as he surrendered four hits and two walks.

"Confidence has a lot to do with it," Washington said of Mendoza. "When you don't get outs, you question your stuff. He threw a lot of pitches in the middle of the plate."

The Tigers added five more runs the next inning, including by three on Cabrera's 34th homer that made it 16-1.

Boggs hit a three-run double in the seventh and rookie Chris Davis plated a run with a two-base hit in the eighth.

Renteria's sacrifice fly in the ninth capped the scoring.

Nippert allowed five runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings.