Tigers offense takes bite out of Twins

05/17/2006 12:36 AM ET

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

DETROIT -- The calendar says mid-May, and the standings say first place. The Tigers say they don't care."First place matters in October," said Chris Shelton, whose bases-clearing double sent the Tigers to their fifth straight win and into a share of the AL Central lead with Tuesday's 7-4 win over the Twins at Comerica Park. "Right now, it doesn't matter. What matters is first place when the season ends. That's what we're focused on now."

Detroit's victory plus a loss by the White Sox at Tampa Bay put the two in a first-place tie. Not since June 25, 1993, when the Tigers were still in the AL East and the AL Central didn't exist, have the Tigers been atop a division this far into a season.

It's not a milestone the Tigers are going to celebrate. Instead, they went home thinking about how to attack Johan Santana in Game 2 of the series Wednesday night.

It's a tone that starts with manager Jim Leyland and his coaching staff, who have put their players in a frame of mind that starts with that day, and continues into a clubhouse more populated with veterans who have been in playoff races before, albeit in other cities.

Todd Jones, whose 10th save of the season sealed Detroit's fourth five-game winning streak this year, compared it to the Washington Nationals from last season. Jones, then the Marlins closer, watched as the Nationals battled with the Braves for the first half of the season, then fell off so dramatically down the stretch they finished last in the NL East with a .500 record.

"We've just seen it too many times," Jones said. "Guys get off to a hot start and then forget what got them here. You can't worry about that. Just try to get outs, as many outs as you can get."

What Jones sees here is different. He sees an atmosphere where players come to the ballpark focused on that night's game, at the staff's direction. Leyland was worried enough about his team's focus on a rainy afternoon with no batting practice following an off-day that he met with his players before the game.

"You have to give our club a lot of credit today," Leyland said. "They had an off-day yesterday. Some of the guys went home. They got back in today. They get down, 3-0. We could've packed it in, but we didn't. We stayed after it pretty good. That's the one thing I'm proud of about this game.

"This was a dangerous day today because of that situation. We had a nice road trip, a lot of rain in Cleveland, laid around a lot. You come back here again today. You can't get on the field. You lay around a lot. That's the one thing I'm proud of. I thought we went about our business real good."

The 3-0 deficit entering the bottom of the third came courtesy of RBI singles from ex-Tiger Rondell White and Torii Hunter. Detroit responded with a five-run outburst that inning off Minnesota starter Kyle Lohse, fueled by two battles out of bad counts.

After Placido Polanco and Ivan Rodriguez hit back-to-back RBI singles with one out, Carlos Guillen battled out of an 0-2 count to watch four straight balls go by for a two-out walk. That loaded the bases and extended the inning for Shelton, who also fell into an 0-2 hole.

Shelton fouled off two pitches on his way to running the count full. Whereas Lohse spotted his slider for strikes earlier in the game, he went with a fastball to Shelton, who lined it into the gap in right-center field with runners on the move. Michael Cuddyer made a diving attempt, but the ball skipped off his glove.

"They're better off walking him," hitting coach Don Slaught said with a smile. "He looked pretty good up there."

After Rodriguez singled in Craig Monroe in the fourth, Guillen repeated his feat against Matt Guerrier, working out of an 0-2 count to draw a walk. That one came with the bases loaded, sending Curtis Granderson home.

The Tigers scored five of their seven runs with two outs, and all of them without the benefit of a home run. Lohse left after 2 2/3 innings, raising his ERA to 13.14 in three starts against the Tigers this season.

By contrast, Robertson went from a three-run deficit to a four-run lead in a matter of two innings. He still had to battle to get through five innings, especially the last.

Luis Castillo's leadoff single and Joe Mauer's bunt single put runners at the corners with no outs for the middle of the Twins order with the would-be tying run on deck. Robertson escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third inning by accepting a sacrifice fly instead of trying to make perfect pitches to escape with no runs. He went to that same mentality in the fifth and escaped.

"That's the top of the fifth inning, and there's a lot of baseball left with a team that's swinging the bat well and being aggressive," Robertson said. "The biggest thing is not trying to get too fine."

Hunter went after a first-pitch changeup and popped it to shortstop. Back-to-back 91 mph fastballs put Robertson ahead on Cuddyer, who hit a fly ball to short right field for the second out. Justin Morneau chased the first pitch he saw and lined it to center.

Roman Colon and three other relievers finished it out from there, though Joel Zumaya had to escape a bases-loaded jam with the tying run on base in the eighth inning. He spotted an outside fastball to White, who lined it to second for an inning-ending double play.

Once Jones finished the ninth, the Tigers were headed for first. All they did from there was go home and prepare for tomorrow.

"It's great, but I don't care," Brandon Inge said of first place. "No one cares unless it's September rolling around and we're in first place. I don't care if we haven't made a postseason since I've been here. I don't care if we haven't even come close to the World Series. Our goal this year is to win a World Series. That's every team's goal when you step on the field. It's a good turnaround, but no one cares."

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