Inge hits walk-off HR for Tigers

DETROIT -- Brandon Inge might be struggling through the worst season of his 11-year career, but he does have a flair for the dramatic.

Inge hit his second game-ending homer of the season, giving the Detroit Tigers a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins last night. His only other homer this season came in his first at-bat with the Tigers after an month-long exile to Triple-A Toledo.

"I love situations like that, where you know that if you get the right result, it is going to be spectacular, especially with these fans in Detroit," Inge said. "But trust me, if I could do that on command, I wouldn't be hitting .194."

With two out in the bottom of the ninth, Inge hit a 2-and-1 pitch into the leftfield stands off Glen Perkins (4-4) to give Detroit its eighth straight victory. He also hit a game-ending homer on April 13 against Texas' Darren Oliver.

"I was just looking for something up in the zone that I could drive," he said. "Ever since I've gotten back from Toledo, my swing might look a little weird, but I'm just trying to hit everything hard. As soon as I got that one, I knew it was gone.

"That's a great feeling."

Inge had only entered the game in the eighth inning as a defensive replacement for Betemit.

The win lowered Detroit's magic number for clinching the AL Central to nine over Chicago and eight over Cleveland.

"Everyone here that was here in 2009 -- and that's most of us -- learned our lesson that year," Inge said. "If we could have found a way to win one more game in that season, we would have never had to play Game 163 in Minnesota. This year, we want to take care of business as quickly as possible."

-- AP