The Detroit Tigers doubled their AL Central lead Friday night.
Magglio Ordonez hit a two-run homer in an eight-run fourth inning, Brandon Inge added a grand slam in the sixth and the Detroit Tigers boosted their division lead to two games by routing the Baltimore Orioles 17-2 Friday night in Detroit.
"This was a fun day," said Craig Monroe, who homered and scored three runs. "This proves that the bats haven't gone anywhere. This season is a grind, and everyone is going to have a slump."
Jeremy Bonderman (12-8) allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings, striking out seven and walked two.
Detroit, which had 19 hits, scored more runs against the Orioles than the Tigers totaled in their previous six games combined. Carlos Guillen and Sean Casey both had two hits in the fourth inning, and Guillen scored twice.
"This is important for this ballclub," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "It was nice to see the offense break out, and Jeremy got through it pretty well."
The Tigers entered with 17 losses in 25 games and the division lead, which was 10 games before play on Aug. 8, was down to one game. But the Twins lost to Cleveland 5-4 in 10 innings, and the Tigers' offense broke out against Baltimore with its biggest inning since scoring eight at Kansas City on May 24, 2004.
"It all starts over tomorrow," Leyland said. "We've got a good pitcher going in Nate (Robertson), and they've got Kris Benson, who has been pretty good."
BLUE JAYS 5, DEVIL RAYS 4, 10 INNINGS: At Toronto, Aaron Hill hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning to give the Toronto Blue Jays a victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Toronto rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the ninth and a 4-3 deficit in the 10th to secure the victory.
INDIANS 5, TWINS 4, 10 INNINGS: At Cleveland, rookie Ryan Garko's bouncer scored Franklin Gutierrez from third in the 10th inning Friday night, sending the Cleveland Indians to a 5-4 win over Minnesota and dropping the Twins two games out of first in the AL Central.
MARINERS 11, ROYALS 8: At Kansas City, Mo., Adrian Beltre had three hits and five RBIs as the Seattle Mariners rallied from a six-run deficit and beat the Kansas City Royals.
ANGELS 2, RANGERS 1, 11 INNINGS: At Arlington, Vladimir Guerrero homered leading off the 11th inning Friday night to give the Los Angeles Angels a victory over the Rangers.
ATHLETICS 4, WHITE SOX 2: At Oakland, Esteban Loaiza outpitched Jon Garland with seven innings of three-hit ball, and the Oakland Athletics opened a key homestand with a victory over the White Sox.
National League
REDS 4, CUBS 0: At Chicago, Bronson Arroyo pitched eight strong innings, David Ross hit a three-run homer and Cincinnati beat Chicago despite managing just four hits.
BREWERS 5, NATIONALS 2: At Washington, Carlos Villanueva earned his first major league victory with six-plus innings in relief of injured starter Tomo Ohka, and Geoff Jenkins homered twice to lift the Milwaukee Brewers past the Washington Nationals.
PIRATES 5, METS 3: At Pittsburgh, Pedro Martinez struggled in his first start in more than a month and the New York Mets missed a chance to clinch the NL East on their own, losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
MARLINS 6, BRAVES 4: At Atlanta, Dontrelle Willis pitched seven strong innings before tiring in the eighth, and Florida's beleaguered bullpen came through to preserve the Marlins' win over the Atlanta Braves.
PHILLIES 4, ASTROS 3: At Houston, Pat Burrell hit a grand slam in the first inning off Roger Clemens and the Philadelphia Phillies kept their slim NL East title hopes alive with a victory over the Houston Astros.
CARDINALS 14, GIANTS 4: At St. Louis, Scott Rolen hit two home runs and drove home a career-high seven runs, and rookie Chris Duncan also homered twice to lead the St. Louis Cardinals over San Francisco and dent the Giants' NL wild-card chances.
DIAMONDBACKS 5, ROCKIES 1: At Phoenix, Brandon Webb threw a six-hitter to become the National League's second 16-game winner and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies.
DODGERS 3, PADRES 1: At Los Angeles, Greg Maddux no-hit San Diego through the first 6 1/3 innings, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Padres to build their NL West lead to 1 1/2 games.