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Cabrera has 5 RBIs, Detroit beats Angels 10-7

Aug 25, 2009 - 6:56 AM By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer

ANAHEIM, Calif.(AP) -- Justin Verlander was cruising along with a three-run lead when he got distracted by an umpire change at home plate and an Angels' rally.

"After that I felt like I lost my rhythm a little bit," he said.

His teammates sure didn't.

Miguel Cabrera homered and drove in five runs and Carlos Guillen added a three-run shot in the Detroit Tigers' 10-7 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night in a matchup of first place teams.

Verlander (14-7) allowed four runs and 10 hits in 5 2-3 innings, struck out seven and walked two. The right-hander was working with a 10-run cushion in the sixth when he gave up four runs and four consecutive two-out hits for the AL Central leaders, who ended a two-game skid.

"He lost his tunnel vision," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "You got a 10-run lead, you got to go out there and pitch like it's a 1-0 lead. He just wasn't quite sure what to do. We expected to get two more innings out of him. You can't worry about what the score was."

Umpire Tim Welke left the game in the bottom of the fourth, two batters after he got hit in the chest by a foul tip from Vladimir Guerrero. Instead of throwing between innings, Verlander sat and waited.

"I feel like it's a more physical trap than a psychological one," he said. "I've always been one that's pretty good at when guys are on the ground step on their throat, go out there and have quick innings. Tonight, it was the opposite."

At one point, he and catcher Gerald Laird exchanged words in the dugout.

"I said something he didn't like and he said something I didn't like," Verlander said. "In the heat of the battle, it wasn't going well."

Bobby Abreu's three-run homer in the eighth left the Angels trailing 10-7. Brandon Lyon gave up five two-out hits in the inning and was replaced by Fernando Rodney, who retired Juan Rivera on a groundout to end the inning and pitched a perfect ninth for his 27th save in 28 chances.

"We always battle, so the only thing you can do is try to hold them off as long as possible and keep scratching runs across," Angels leadoff hitter Chone Figgins said. "But they've got a good closer like Rodney over there and he shut us down the next two innings."

The Angels' six-game homestand got off to a messy start with their fourth loss in five games - they've been outscored 34-17 in that stretch. Their AL West lead dropped to five games over idle Texas.

"Getting down 10-0 is tough. It's not a position you want to be in and it taxes your 'pen," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "But we made their closer get a four-out save, so we're proud of the way we battled back. But we just have to do a better job of containing teams."

Cabrera hit a two-run homer in the fifth off the first pitch from Jered Weaver (13-5), extending Detroit's lead to 3-0. Magglio Ordonez walked before Cabrera homered to center field.

The Tigers took a 1-0 lead on Cabrera's RBI double in the first, the last of three consecutive hits given up by Weaver.

"That's what we need, to swing the bat good and score a lot of runs," Cabrera said.

Weaver was coming off his second career shutout, but the right-hander allowed five runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings, struck out two and walked two, matching his shortest outing since June 26 at Houston. He lost for just the second time at home this season.

"I still felt good. But anytime you get some guys on and you're towards the end of the game, you want to battle out of it and try to get out of it yourself," he said. "That one inning just got away from us. It was disappointing. If I could have kept them off the bases in that inning, it's a completely different game."

Detroit rocked Weaver and the bullpen for seven runs in the sixth, a season high for an inning. Curtis Granderson singled off Darren Oliver, who then turned it over to Jose Arredondo. He gave up a RBI single to Placido Polanco and walked Ordonez to load the bases.

Cabrera followed with a two-run double and Guillen added his sixth homer, making it 10-0.

The Angels made up four runs in the sixth on a pair of RBI doubles by Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales and run-scoring singles from Maicer Izturis and Erick Aybar.

NOTES: Second base umpire Mark Carlson took over from Welke behind the plate. ... Angels reliever Rafael Rodriguez left the game with a bruised right hand after being hit by a ball after six pitches in the seventh. ... Scioscia said LHP Joe Saunders, on the DL since Aug. 8 with left shoulder stiffness, will start the series finale Wednesday. Saunders (9-7) threw a bullpen session Monday. "The workout he just had in Toronto was exceptional," Scioscia said.