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  Saturday, Aug. 5 5:05pm ET
McMillon has smashing Detroit debut
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

DETROIT (AP) -- All Billy McMillon ever wanted was a chance to crack Detroit's lineup. Now that he has, Tigers manager Phil Garner has to find ways to keep him in it.

McMillon homered twice in his Detroit debut and Javier Cardona hit his first major league home run as the Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins 4-3 Saturday.

McMillon, whose contract was purchased Monday from Triple-A Toledo, hit a solo homer in the third and followed Cardona for back-to-back homers in the fifth and a 3-2 lead.

"All summer long he had great at-bats, tough at-bats and he was getting on base," Garner said. "That's what we need from him here. I didn't expect two home runs."

Signed in the off-season as a minor league free agent, McMillon doubled his career home-run total. He played 65 games with Florida and Philadelphia in 1996 and '97.

Though he had a solid exhibition season with the Tigers, McMillon got caught in an outfield numbers game and was sent to Toledo in one of the final spring cuts. He bided his time by leading the International League in batting (.345), hits (131) and on-base percentage (.446).

McMillon, 28, said he tried to take the same approach at the plate he used with the Mud Hens.

"I think that helped to calm me," he said. "Then it was a matter of me going out there and doing what I can do and having fun."

Jacque Jones hit a tying RBI triple in the sixth. Juan Encarnacion broke the tie in the home half with an RBI single that chased Joe Mays (6-13) after Bob Higginson singled and Hal Morris drew a two-out walk.

Todd Jones
Jones

Knuckleballer Steve Sparks (1-2) gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings. Four relievers combined for three shutout innings, with Todd Jones working the ninth for his career high and AL-leading 32nd save in 34 chances.

"It's a good bullpen," Jones said. "It's been a good bullpen all year. The guys know what to do with a one-run lead."

Denny Hocking homered and had two RBI for the Twins, who lost for just the sixth time in 15 games.

"Unfortunately we didn't pitch well," Twins manager Tom Kelly said. "We started out great, then we gave up the home run and threw some balls down the middle of the plate. We just didn't make enough pitches."

Mays, who pitched a five-hit shutout May 7 against Detroit, allowed four runs and six hits -- including three homers -- in 5 2/3 innings. All of the runs scored with two outs.

"I didn't get ahead of a whole lot of hitters. When you're constantly throwing 2-0, 3-1 it's tough to go out there and be effective," Mays said. "I think the thing that really hurt me was I couldn't get my breaking stuff over today. I think that eliminates my slider and my curveball.

"Now they're just sitting fastball, changeup. Those are basically the only two pitches I got over the plate. When I got it up a little bit they made the most of it."

Sparks put Minnesota ahead in the second with a bases-loaded walk to Hocking, but got a break when third baseman Dean Palmer made a nice stop of Cristian Guzman's liner and stepped on the bag for a force.

"That was probably the game-saver," Kelly said.

McMillon's first homer tied it in the third, but Hocking's homer gave the Twins a 2-1 lead in the fifth.

The consecutive homers put Detroit ahead in the bottom half. Cardona's was a drive down the left-field line that was just fair.

"When I hit it, I knew it was far but I didn't know if it would be a foul ball," Cardona said. "I was happy all the way around the bases."

Game notes
The Twins' David Ortiz was 1-for-4 and is batting .459 (28-for-61) in his last 17 games. ... Palmer, nursing a sore right shoulder, played third base for the first time since July 23. ... McMillon joined the Tigers in the move that also led to the release of Luis Polonia, who signed with the New York Yankees. ... Jones' 121st save for the Tigers moved him ahead of Guillermo Hernandez for third place on the club's career list. Mike Henneman leads with 154. John Hiller had 125. 		 


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