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DETROIT (AP) -- Jim Thome homered in his fourth straight game to help the Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 13-9 Thursday.
Tadahito Iguchi also homered and drove in three runs and Alex Cintron had a pair of RBI triples for the White Sox, who have won four straight. Chicago swept the three-game series and is 10-2 at Comerica Park since the start of last season.
Despite three hits, including a homer, from red-hot Chris Shelton, the Tigers fell to 5-4 after winning their first five games. Shelton is hitting .514 with a 1.297 slugging percentage.
Jon Garland (1-1) got the win despite allowing seven runs and 13 hits, tying a career high, in five innings.
Chicago took a two-run lead in the first on back-to-back homers by Iguchi and Thome, both of which cleared the bullpens in left-center field. It was the sixth of the season for Thome, who hit seven last year when he struggled with injuries.
The Tigers got a run back in the bottom half on Ivan Rodriguez's RBI single, but Chicago came back with five runs in the third.
After Justin Verlander (1-1) retired the first two batters, Thome walked and Paul Konerko singled. A wild pitch put runners on second and third, and Jermaine Dye followed with a two-run single.
A.J. Pierzynski and Joe Crede had run-scoring singles, chasing Verlander, and Cintron greeted Jason Grilli with a run-scoring triple.
Verlander gave up seven runs and seven hits in just 2 2-3 innings.
Thome drove in a run with a double and scored on Dye's single to make it 9-1 in the fourth, but the White Sox struggled to put Detroit away.
Shelton hit his major league-leading seventh homer in the bottom of the fourth, cutting the margin to six, and after Cintron's RBI triple in the fifth, the Tigers scored four runs in the bottom half.
After Magglio Ordonez's two-run homer, Shelton and Guillen hit back-to-back doubles. Craig Monroe's single made it 10-7, but he was thrown out to end the inning while trying to advance to second on the play.
Rodriguez's RBI single cut the deficit to two runs in the sixth, but Dmitri Young flew out to the warning track to end the inning and Iguchi's two-run double highlighted a three-run seventh that put the game away.
Notes:@ Verlander's ERA jumped from zero to 6.52. ... Monroe was one of three players thrown out on the bases -- Dye was out at second trying to stretch his RBI single in the fourth and Guillen was thrown out at the plate on what looked like an easy triple for Omar Infante. ... Garland also allowed 13 hits last Aug. 2 against Toronto. ... Infante tied a career high with four hits.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-04-13-06 1418MDT
