Thu Jun 26 01:57:06 2008

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Sheff cooks up a Detroit victory over St. Louis

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Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Gary Sheffield had four hits, including the winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning, boosting the Detroit Tigers to an 8-7 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in a game delayed nearly 2 1/2 hours by rain.

Sheffield, who came off the disabled list Tuesday, helped the Tigers to their 11th win in 14 games. Carlos Guillen also had four hits, including a three-run homer.

"It was a long night," Sheffield said. "We knew this team was going to be tough. We knew we had to keep plugging away and give ourselves a chance in the ninth inning and we did that."

Todd Jones (3-0), who wooed the crowd with an impersonation of teammate Magglio Ordonez during the rain delay, threw the ninth inning to get the victory.

Kyle McClellan (0-3) suffered the loss, as the Cardinals faltered in the middle contest of the three-game set.

Rick Ankiel hit a pair of solo homers and knocked in three runs for St. Louis.

Kyle Lohse allowed 11 hits and five runs over the first four innings for the Cardinals, while Armando Galarraga was charged with eight hits and five runs -- four earned -- in 4 2/3 frames during the start for the Tigers.

The Cardinals took a 7-6 lead in the eighth, when Brendan Ryan walked, went to second on a wild pitch from Joel Zumaya and later scored on an Aaron Miles single.

However, the Tigers tied the game in the bottom half when Ordonez singled to right to drive in Placido Polanco.

Jones retired the side in order in the top of the ninth and Clete Thomas doubled to left to start the bottom of the frame. Sheffield then singled to right-center field to end the game.

"I jammed Sheffield with the first couple of pitches then I wanted to go outside to get him, that was my mistake," McLellan said. "This is all on my shoulders. You just can't pitch around a lead-off hit."

It capped an eventful night for Jones, who donned a long-haired wig and Ordonez's jersey, pretending to hit the home run that clinched Detroit's 2006 ALCS win over Oakland during the delay in the top of the fifth inning.

"It's weird," Jones said. "You never really realize it until you're in a rain delay how regimented baseball is and how systematic it is. You get this time of the night, it's time to be this inning and you sit for two and a half hours, it throws the whole program off. I think rain delays when you win them like this are great. When you don't, it's rough. Hopefully we can get some momentum from this and try to win a series tomorrow."

Skip Schumaker and Ankiel homered in the first inning, but the Tigers scored twice in the second. Sheffield came home on a throwing error from first baseman Adam Kennedy following a hit from Edgar Renteria, and Curtis Granderson added an RBI single.

Ankiel lifted a sacrifice fly in the third and Yadier Molina scored on a Nick Stavinoha groundout in the fourth, but Guillen blasted his seventh homer of the year in the bottom half, right after Granderson walked and Polanco singled.

Another homer from Ankiel in the fifth tied the game, and Molina walked with the bases full in the seventh to make it 6-5. However, Kennedy then flied out to end the inning.

The Tigers loaded the bases with nobody out in their half of the seventh, but scored only once when Edgar Renteria grounded into a double play.

Game Notes

Earlier Wednesday, the Tigers traded pitcher Denny Bautista to Pittsburgh for minor league pitcher Kyle Pearson on Wednesday. The Tigers also placed catcher/third baseman Brandon Inge on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 23, with a pulled oblique, and purchased the contract of catcher Dane Sardinha from Triple-A Toledo...The Tigers left 11 runners on base...Tigers left fielder Marcus Thames ejected by home plate umpire Wally Bell for arguing balls and strikes in the third inning...Granderson has a career-best 13-game hitting streak...This was Guillen's seventh career four-hit game...Sheffield's double in the second inning gave him 4,500 total bases for his career...This was Ankiel's third career two-homer game.