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Ordonez helps Tigers end three-game slide

Aug 12, 2007 - 4:08 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- With one swing, Magglio Ordonez ended the Motown blues for the Detroit Tigers.

Ordonez delivered the go-ahead home run in the sixth inning as the Tigers snapped their three-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over Dan Haren and the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night.

With Detroit trailing, 2-1, in the seventh inning, Haren (13-4) walked Gary Sheffield on four pitches before Ordonez connected on a 1-2 pitch to left for his 19th blast this season.

Ordonez finished 3-of-4 to raise his American League-leading batting average to .355. He singled in the first and third.

"It felt really good," Ordonez said. "We really needed this win, because we haven't been playing well for the last couple of weeks. We are putting our hitting and pitching together. We are close to being good again."

Detroit starter Justin Verlander (12-4) allowed two runs and seven hits with seven strikeouts in six-plus innings to pick up his first win since July 15 at Seattle. The hard-throwing righthander threw 114 pitches.

"I really had to battle," Verlander said. "But I was able to keep them from getting too many runs and the other guys came through for us."

However, Oakland made things interesting in the bottom half.

Shannon Stewart and Nick Swisher hit back-to-back singles to chase Verlander (12-4). Detroit manager Jim Leyland went with lefthander Bobby Seay, who struck out slugger Jack Cust for the first out of the frame.

"We got Verlander out, but we couldn't finish it," Cust said. "Sometimes it's a good thing when you get to the bullpen, sometimes its bad. (Saturday) was one of those nights."

Reliever Aquilino Lopez, who was called up from Class AAA Toledo earlier, ended the threat by getting Mark Ellis to fly out to center and striking out Marco Scutaro.

"Aquilino (Lopez) was great," Leyland said. "The whole bullpen was marvelous."

Fernando Rodney tossed a scoreless eighth and veteran closer Todd Jones shut the door in the ninth for his 31st save for the Tigers (64-52), who moved one-half game behind Cleveland (65-52) in the AL Central.

"When you have guys like Rodney and Jones in the bullpen, it really shortens the game," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "They are as solid as you can get."

The Tigers added some insurance in the eighth as Omar Infante lofted a sacrifice fly and Brandon Inge laced an RBI triple.

Detroit's Marcus Thames homered for the second time in as many nights with his solo shot to left in the first. He now has six homers over his last 15 games.

Haren gave up three runs and nine hits in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out four and walked one.

"I think a did a good job," Haren said. "They have a tough lineup and I wish I could get a couple of pitches back. With Verlander pitching, I knew it would be a low scoring game. It was a dog fight and we came out on the short end."

Cust had an RBI single in the third and Stewart chipped in a run-scoring single in the fifth as the Athletics fell to 3-2 on their seven-game road swing.