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Bonderman, Tigers survive late charge to edge Mets

Jun 10, 2007 - 1:06 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Jeremy Bonderman pitched six-plus solid innings and Carlos Guillen drove in three runs as the Detroit Tigers held on for an 8-7 victory over the New York Mets on Saturday.

Bonderman (6-0) surrendered six runs and eight hits with four strikeouts en route to picking up his sixth straight win this season. He began 2007 with five no-decisions before getting over the hump on April 30 against Baltimore.

With the win, Bonderman has a nine-game winning streak dating to last season, becoming the first Detroit pitcher to do so since David Wells in 1995. Bonderman has not suffered a loss since September 10.

"I felt great. I thought I threw the ball really well," Bonderman said. "I just got in trouble that inning and ended up giving up some runs. We won so that's all that really matters."

The hard-throwing righthander ran into trouble in the fifth inning with two out and runners in scoring position. Jose Reyes laced an RBI single up the middle to plate Paul Lo Duca and Ricky Ledee, tying the game at 2-2.

"I just got in a little trouble late in the game and gave up a couple of hits, then the double," Bonderman said. "You have an 8-3 lead, you want to go out there and hold that down and I just wasn't able to do it.

"I take responsibility for it because I threw the ball well but made some mistakes late in the game and gave up a few runs."

However, New York's hopes of adding more runs in the inning came to an end when Bonderman picked off Reyes, who ranks among the league leaders in steals, at first base to avoid further damage.

Detroit got those two runs back in the bottom half as Magglio Ordonez walked and Guillen hit a ground-rule double over the center field fence, setting up up Ivan Rodriguez's two-run single off starter Oliver Perez (6-5) for a 5-3 lead.

"I was looking for a good pitch to hit," Guillen said. "I was trying to use my hands. I've been struggling lately so I don't try to do too much, just try to put the ball in play and hit it hard."

Detroit tacked on three more runs in the sixth as Gary Sheffield delivered a run-scoring single and Ordonez added a two-run double to left to create a five-run advantage.

The Mets made things interesting in the seventh when Ledee hit a two-run double to chase Bonderman, who gave up base hits to David Wright and Lo Duca to open the inning. Pinch hitter Ramon Castro lofted a sacrifice fly and Ruben Gotay hit a run-scoring single, cutting the deficit to 8-6.

"We payed hard," Castro said. "We battled, but when your pitcher gets his pitches up, this is what you get."

New York had a chance to pull ahead, but reliever Wilfredo Ledezma got slugger Carlos Delgado to hit into an inning-ending groundout with the bases loaded on a 3-2 count.

Wright led off the eighth with a solo shot against Fernando Rodney as the Mets inched closer, 8-7. But Detroit closer Todd Jones shut the door in the ninth for his 16th save.

"I wanted to pitch good," Jones said. "Obviously I want to pitch good every time but because my last couple outings weren't the sexiest of my career."

"It was a sound effort on our part," Wright said. "We battled back but didn't get the results we wanted. We took advantage of a lot of chances but couldn't cash in on them all. We can take pride in (Saturday's) game."

In the first, Guillen stroked a three-run homer - his eighth of the season - as the Tigers grabbed a 3-1 advantage.

After being shut out for the first time this season, the Tigers' offense was awake and alert in this one, collecting 12 hits compared to four in Friday's 3-0 setback.

"We did what we were supposed to do," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "We got a couple mistakes and we hit them. I thought (Bonderman) really only made one bad pitch all day and Perez only made one bad pitch."

In his first meeting against the Tigers, Perez surrendered five runs and seven hits in five innings to remain winless since winning three starts in a row. The lefthander walked five and struck out four.

"I couldn't throw my slider for a strike," Perez said. "My fastball was out of the zone, I had no real command. I kept trying to get out of the inning, but I made mistakes with my pitches and they hit it hard. All you can do is try to forget what happened and go on."