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Miguel Cabrera rallies Tigers past White Sox 12-5

Sep 27, 2009 - 3:53 AM CHICAGO(AP) -- No matter how much they win, Miguel Cabrera and the Detroit Tigers can't seem to shake Minnesota in the AL Central.

Cabrera got four hits and drove in four runs, giving him at least 100 RBIs for the sixth consecutive season, and Detroit rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Chicago White Sox 12-5 on Saturday night.

Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco and Gerald Laird each had three of Detroit's 20 hits, including singles in the decisive seventh inning, to help the Tigers win for the fifth time in six games.

The first-place Tigers, two games ahead of Minnesota in the AL Central, host the Twins in a four-game series beginning Monday. Minnesota won 11-6 at Kansas City on Saturday night.

"They're just not losing," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "They're putting good pressure on us. If you handle it right, it's good pressure. If you handle it wrong, it's bad pressure. I thought we responded tremendously. It was a hell of a comeback."

Cabrera responded with his bat - as he's done ever since he reached the majors at age 20 with Florida.

"(Getting 100 RBIs) is something you have in your mind before the season," he said. "I hit it today, but the more important thing is we came back. That's very satisfying. The most important thing is winning. It doesn't matter how."

While the Tigers rejoiced, the White Sox clubhouse was quiet after manager Ozzie Guillen used his postgame press conference to unleash the kind of expletive-filled diatribe for which he's famous.

"If they think the season's over for them, yes. If they think the season's over for me, no," said Guillen, whose team was eliminated earlier in the week. "If you don't have pride to play this game, if you don't care about it, get another job.

"I'm not in the pennant race, but at least I have some pride. When you go (into the clubhouse) and turn the TV on and watch the stupid football, when the damn football players don't (care) about you, that's embarrassing."

He then stormed into the clubhouse and screamed that he'll destroy televisions that get turned on during games in the season's final week.

White Sox captain Paul Konerko didn't witness Guillen's rant, but said he also is frustrated.

"I'm all for no TV, no music, no kids, across the board when you don't win," Konerko said.

White Sox starter Freddy Garcia faced the minimum 12 batters over the first four innings before allowing Cabrera's leadoff homer in the fifth. Cabrera singled home two more runs in the sixth, cutting Detroit's deficit to 5-3.

In each of the next two innings, the Tigers scored four runs on six hits and sent 10 batters to the plate.

Carlos Guillen opened the seventh with a single. Laird singled with one out and Adam Everett followed with an RBI single. Granderson then singled to tie the game.

That ended the night for Garcia (2-4), who allowed 10 hits in 6 1-3 innings.

"We just continued to get guys on base and put pressure on him," Granderson said. "Finally, we were able to get to him."

Polanco lined reliever Tony Pena's third pitch into right field to put Detroit ahead, and Magglio Ordonez's single made it 7-5.

Detroit broke it open in the eighth against Scott Linebrink on Granderson's RBI triple, Polanco's run-scoring double and RBI singles by Clete Thomas and Cabrera. Granderson singled home a ninth-inning run.

After Nate Robertson gave up five runs and six hits in 3 1-3 innings, Alfredo Figaro (2-1) allowed only one hit over 2 2-3 innings to earn the win.

The White Sox built their big lead on Carlos Quentin's three-run homer, Alex Rios' solo shot and Gordon Beckham's RBI single. They could have scored even more runs but grounded into five double plays.

NOTES: Tigers 3B Brandon Inge is 0 for 9 with six strikeouts in the series, and his error led to two unearned runs in Friday's 2-0 loss. White Sox SS Alexei Ramirez batted third for the first time this season. He was robbed of a first-inning homer on a leaping grab by Carlos Guillen in LF. ... Granderson was 4 for 27 in his career against Garcia until his seventh-inning single.