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Tigers edge Angels, hand Colon first loss

May 24, 2007 - 3:40 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Bartolo Colon was rolling along this season. But he cannot seem to solve the Detroit Tigers.

Magglio Ordonez smacked two homers and Curtis Granderson added two hits and three RBI for the Tigers, who lit up Colon in a four-run second inning en route to an 8-7 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Wednesday.

Chad Durbin (4-1) tossed five effective innings for Detroit, which has won four of its last five games and, in the process, snapped Anaheim's season-high six-game winning streak.

"I threw the ball pretty well tonight," Durbin said. "I got into trouble with my mechanics later in the game but hung in there. This was the first time that I pitched well at home, so I'll take what I got."

Entering the contest, Colon (5-1) had won five of his first six starts since returning from the disabled list due to surgery on a torn rotator cuff last year. The burly righthander was enjoying his longest winning streak since reeling off eight consecutive victories from August 2-September 10, 2005.

"What I've been doing more this year is using my sinker," Colon said through an interpreter. "Today, not there. I tried every single part of the plate to see if it was working and throwing from different sides of the mound and it didn't work at all. Everything stayed flat."

But it was a different story Wednesday for Colon, who allowed five runs and 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings, leaving after yielding a prodigious homer to Ordonez and a single to Ivan Rodriguez in the fifth.

"Since I was with the Indians, he's (Ordonez) always been a guy that really terrifies me," Colon said. "I was happy to have him on my team in Chicago because it seems like every time I face him, he feels very comfortable and hits me very well."

The struggles by the 33-year-old Dominican vs. Detroit were no surprise. Entering the game, he was 0-5 with a 7.22 ERA in seven outings since earning a 3-2 victory on April 13, 2003, at Comerica Park.

Overall, Colon is now 8-9 win 20 lifetime starts against the Tigers, including 4-4 in nine starts here.

The trouble started for Colon in the second inning. The righthander allowed a one-out single to Rodriguez and, after Sean Casey flied out, Craig Monroe singled and Brandon Inge walked to load the bases. Granderson and Placido Polanco each followed with a two-run singles to provide an early 4-0 cushion.

The Tigers added a barrage of solo homers to make it 7-2, including one by Guillen in the fourth and one each in the fifth and seventh by Ordonez, who has hit two blasts in a game 20 times in his career. His last multi-homer game was at Chicago on September 18, 2006.

"I'm feeling really good," Ordonez said. "I'm seeing the ball well and I'm being patient with my pitches. I'm using the entire field instead of just trying to pull the ball."

Durbin allowed three runs and eight hits while striking out three and walking one. In the sixth, the righthander allowed a leadoff single to Gary Matthews, Jr. and a run-scoring double to Casey Kotchman before being relieved by Jason Grilli.

Grilli retired Mike Napoli, Shea Hillenbrand and Howie Kendrick in order to escape the jam. The righthanded reliever pitched two scoreless frames without giving up a hit and struck out two.

"I felt good that skipper had the confidence in me to put me back out there," Grilli said. "I just hit the reset button and went at them with all I had."

But Anaheim, which put up single tallies in the fourth, fifth and sixth prior to Grilli coming on, creeped closer against Jose Mesa, who struggled mightily with a 7-3 lead in the eighth.

"Detroit's a great ballclub," Hillenbrand said. "They've got a great offensive team, just a great all-around team and those things are going to happen. We battled tonight, we scratched and clawed, just weren't able to come through and those type of things are going to happen.

"Us as players aren't worried about a win streak, we're just out there to win each and every game we can."

After striking out Vladimir Guerrero to start the frame, the veteran righthander allowed a single to Matthews and a walk to Kotchman, setting up a three-run blast by Mike Napoli to make it 7-6.

Kendrick, who was playing in his first game since coming off the 15-day disabled list with a broken hand, then drilled a triple to right-center field - knocking Mesa from the game.

Tim Byrdak came in and retired Chone Figgins to escape the jam and hold on to the slim lead. After Granderson added an insurance run with a solo blast in the eighth, Todd Jones induced a key run-scoring double play by Guerrero en route to his 15th save.

"It was great to get that support run," Granderson said. "I knew that they had the top of the order coming up and any one of those guys can hit it out. As it turned out, the homer was the winning run."