DETROIT _ Brad Ausmus wanted to get Andrew Romine in the lineup.
Romine, the light-hitting, late-innings defensive replacement. Not often used for his bat, more often the second-fiddle utilityman who has been underutilized this season.
With two nasty left-handers on the horizon for the White Sox, Ausmus wanted to get Romine a start. So he plugged him into the lineup on Tuesday night for Nick Castellanos. And he sparked a game-winning rally.
Romine tripled to lead-off the fifth inning, keying a six-run frame that saw the Tigers bat around in the order en route to beating the White Sox, 11-5, Tuesday at Comerica Park.
In the fifth, the Tigers recorded seven hits _ four of them for extra bases _ and blew the game open against Chicago righty James Shields. Down a run, Jose Iglesias tied the game by sacrificing Romine home from left field before Ian Kinsler singled and Cameron Maybin tripled to take the lead for good.
Miguel Cabrera hit an RBI double. Victor Martinez hit an RBI double. Then, with two outs, a James McCann groundball skidded off the lip of the infield and over the glove of second baseman Tyler Saladino for a two-run single.
It was welcome run support for righty Anibal Sanchez, who turned in his finest start of the season. Sanchez featured perhaps his best breaking ball of the season and navigated his way through six innings, allowing one run on six hits. He walked three and struck out two.
It was his first quality start of the season.
The Tigers added two more runs on Cabrera's 24th home run of the season, a monster shot to right field a dozen rows deep in the sixth inning. Cabrera has homered in six of his past 11 games. With the home run, he moves into 46th place in major league history, passing Cal Ripken, Jr., with 432 in his career.
Kinsler hit a two-run double to left in the seventh inning. Martinez hit a solo home run to right in the eighth inning. It was his 18th of the season and his first in 17 games. The Tigers scored 11 or more runs in three of their past four games and scored 10 or more runs for the 12th time this season, second-most in the American League.
It was their seventh straight win, marking their first winning streak of that length since they won eight straight from Apr. 29-May 7, 2014. With the win, the Tigers pull within 3{ games of the Indians in the AL Central, and stand one game back of the league's second wild-card spot.
Former Tigers outfielder Avisail Garcia was an injury replacement for rookie Charlie Tilson and his two home runs in his two at bat, including a massive shot to left off Mark Lowe to lead off the ninth.
