Ordonez Puts Hurt on His Former Team

It was Magglio Ordonez’s turn to lay a big hurt on his former team, the Chicago White Sox.

Ordonez hit a pair of home runs and Kenny Rogers pitched six shutout innings while battling flu Monday night, sending the Detroit Tigers to an 8-2 victory and increasing their lead in the Central Division.

“Every game is important,” Ordonez said. “You’ve got Minnesota and the White Sox. We’ve got a chance now, but we’ve got to keep going. We have 12 games left. A lot of things can happen.”

Ordonez’s two homers off Mark Buehrle -- who gave up hits to the first four batters he faced before a triple play bailed him out -- came right after another former White Sox star, Frank Thomas, homered Saturday and Sunday as Oakland swept Chicago.

“I haven’t hit many home runs in Chicago in the last two years, so this was nice. It was nice to do something to help us win,” Ordonez said.

The Tigers lead Minnesota, which was idle Monday night, by 1 1/2 games in the division and are six games ahead of the defending World Series champion White Sox, whose return to the playoffs is in deep jeopardy after a sixth loss in eight games.

“We need next to a miracle to probably catch them division-wise, but we’re not eliminated from the wild card yet,” Chicago’s Paul Konerko said. “That’s how we have to look at it.”

Rogers (16-6) gave up only four hits, escaped several jams and is 5-1 over his last nine starts.

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ROUNDUP

New York 7, at Toronto 6: Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez hit two-run homers and the Yankees held on to reduce their magic number to three for clinching the American League East for a ninth straight season. Jose Veras got the last out for the first save of his career. Rodriguez hit a two-run homer in the sixth, his 34th this season and the 463rd of his career, moving him into sole possession of 29th place on the all-time list, two behind Dave Winfield.

Cleveland 7, at Oakland 2: Victor Martinez hit a two-run homer, Hector Luna had a solo shot and the Indians put an end to the Athletics’ four-game winning streak. Casey Blake doubled in two runs as the Indians gave Jake Westbrook an early lead.

Baltimore 4, at Tampa Bay 1: Corey Patterson hit a three-run homer and Erik Bedard won his third consecutive start, helping the Orioles win at St. Petersburg, Fla.

at Texas 8, Seattle 1: Kevin Millwood gave up one run over seven innings at Arlington, Texas, for his 16th win and Michael Young had his third straight multihit game.