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Guillen on fire as Tigers maul Twins

Posted on: Saturday, 29 April 2006, 19:58 CDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Carlos Guillen homered twice and drove in five runs as the Detroit Tigers recorded their most lopsided win in 13 years with an 18-1 hammering of the Minnesota Twins in American League play Saturday in Detroit.

Magglio Ordonez and Curtis Granderson also hit home runs for the Tigers, who last won a game by 17 runs in 1993.

Detroit blanked the Twins 9-0 in the series opener Friday night and Tigers manager Jim Leyland told reporters everything is going his club's way on offense.

"When we broke our bats, we got a hit," Leyland said.

"When we got jammed, we got a hit. When we hit it OK, we got a hit. And when we hit it good, we got a hit.

"That's one of those things that doesn't happen very often."

The surprising Tigers improved to 15-9 with the victory and after a disappointing season last year, the club has a lot more confidence this season, according to Ordonez.

"It's the same team, but the Tigers are different," Ordonez told reporters.

The Tigers jumped ahead early, scoring 11 runs in the first four innings, with nine of them coming off starter and loser Carlos Silva.

Guillen hit a three-run homer in the first and Granderson added a two-run shot in the second to put Detroit ahead 5-0 after just two innings.

Guillen added another solo home run to key a four-run third inning that chased Silva, while Ordonez's solo homer in the fourth helped run the score to 11-0.

Detroit wound up with 23 hits off five Minnesota pitchers, including four by Ivan Rodriguez. Craig Monroe chipped in with three hits and an RBI while Granderson also had three hits and drove in three runs.

Guillen also wound up with three hits, while Brandon Inge added two hits and drove home another pair.

Silva (1-4) was rocked for nine runs on nine hits in just 2 2/3 innings, striking out three and walking none. The four relievers didn't fare much better, allowing nine runs on 14 hits the rest of the way.

Justin Verlander (3-2) was given plenty of run support but he pitched well anyway, going seven innings and allowing just one run on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

Minnesota (9-14) has been out-scored 27-1 in the first two games of the series.

In New York, Johnny Damon hit a pair of home runs as the Yankees mauled the Toronto Blue Jays 17-6.

Damon scored a career high five runs and had three hits and three RBI as the Yankees scored in every inning of the game, just the second time they have done that in franchise history.

Jason Giambi got New York started with a three-run homer in the first and Jorge Posada also homered for the Yankees (12-10), who had 15 hits.

Randy Johnson (4-2) struggled for five innings but got the win, allowing six runs on six hits with four walks and just two strikeouts in his second poor outing in a row against Toronto.

Josh Towers (0-5) continued his terrible start by allowing seven runs on six hits in just 2 1/3 innings, with his ERA ballooning to 10.45.

Vernon Wells and Troy Glaus both drove in two runs for Toronto, also 12-10.

Source: REUTERS

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