Higginson at Center of Surge

The longer he feels good, the better Bobby Higginson seems to play.

Higginson highlighted a rare Detroit power surge with a pair of three-run homers and seven runs batted in as the Tigers bombed the Toronto Blue Jays, 16-3, Tuesday night.

“It’s like night and day,” said Higginson, limited to just 107 games last season because of an injury to his right big toe that finally required surgery. “I’m a lot more comfortable. I’m having a lot more fun. It’s just really nice not to feel hurt.”

Higginson has done this before. He also had seven RBIs on June 30, 1997, against the New York Mets. He hit three homers in that game.

“I might have had better efforts, but none ever felt better than this,” Higginson said.

Higginson, who hit only .239 with 12 homers and 46 RBIs last season, has been Detroit’s best hitter lately. In five games he has nine hits in 19 at-bats with three homers and 10 RBIs.

His four-for-four performance before being replaced in the fifth raised Higginson’s average 15 points to .269.

“This was kind of Higgy’s night,” Detroit Manager Phil Garner said. “I mean, he drove in seven runs!”

Juan Gonzalez and Brad Ausmus also homered for the Tigers, whose 59 homers rank them next to last in the AL. Ausmus was four for five with two RBIs.

Tony Batista had a two-run homer, his 15th, for Toronto.

Willie Blair (3-1), whose longest outing this season was 4 2/3 innings in relief, gave up three runs and six hits over seven innings in his second start. Blair, who pitched one perfect inning of relief against St. Louis on Sunday, walked one and struck out two.

Clayton Andrews (1-2), who notched his first major league win at Detroit on May 28 with four innings of relief in a 12-7 Toronto triumph, wasn’t nearly as effective in his second career start. Andrews, who lasted just 1 1/3 innings, yielded six runs on eight hits.