The Detroit Tigers erased a four-run deficit en route to a 6-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday night at Comerica Park, earning a double-header split.

Ryan Raburn hit a base-clearing double in the bottom of the eighth, finishing off a four-run inning.

The victory gave the Tigers (51-46) only their third victory in the last 12 games and two wins in the four-game series with Toronto, which dropped to 50-49.

In Game 1 of the doubleheader, the Jays used three home runs to upend Detroit 5-3. The big blast came off the bat of first baseman Lyle Overbay, who took normally overpowering closer Jose Valverde into the left-field stands for a two-run shot in the ninth inning.

The teams were forced to play two games Sunday after Friday's scheduled contest was postponed because of rain.

The potential of dropping both games on Sunday would've added to an already disastrous weekend. The Tigers are missing injured third baseman Brandon Inge and placed both Magglio Ordonez and second baseman Carlos Guillen on the 15-day disabled list Sunday morning.

Ordonez broke his right ankle and Guillen strained his right calf in Saturday's night's 3-2 loss to TorontoOrdonez is expected to miss the next six to eight weeks.

"That was impressive, losing both of those guys last night and coming back to get a split in the second game," said Tigers coach Jim Leyland.

Leading 4-2 in the nightcap, the Jays unravelled in the eighth after reliever Brian Tallet allowed the first two base runners on.

Manager Cito Gaston pulled Tallet in favour of Jason Frasor, but the move made no difference to RBI machine Miguel Cabrera, who doubled home Austin Jackson. Cabrera leads the majors with 87 RBIs and went a steaming 8-for-15 in the Toronto series.

With one out, Frasor intentionally walked Brennan Boesch with the hope of inducing Raburn into an inning-ending double play.

Raburn would have none of that as he took a Frasor pitch deep to centre field, scoring Ramon Santiago, Cabrera and Boesch, giving Detroit a 6-4 edge.

"I don't know what to say," Frasor said. "He went down and cracked a slider."

The Jays refused to go home quietly. Outfielder Dewayne Wise took Valverde over the right-field wall, bringing Toronto to within a run.

But the Tigers closer wouldn't falter in a second straight game, putting away the Jays' next three hitters to earn his 22nd save of the season.

Lewis delivers

Things looked good early for the Jays, who took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth following an RBI triple by leadoff man Fred Lewis.

Lewis, who had missed the last three games with a sore ankle, burned Jackson with a drive to left-centre field, scoring Edwin Encarnacion. Clearly bothered by the sun, Jackson took a step in before realizing the ball was sailing over his head.

Toronto increased its lead by four runs in the following inning.

Right-fielder Jose Bautista drilled a hanging breaking ball by Detroit pitcher Jeremy Bonderman over the left-field wall. The home run was Bautista's major-league leading 27th of the season.

Bautista and Wise also extended Toronto's home run lead in the majors with 148 homers.

"That just seems to be what this club is all about," said Gaston. "That seems to be the way we win."

After chasing Bonderman out of the game in the same inning, the Jays got another run on some alert base running by catcher John Buck. With two out, Wise beat out an infield hit at first, allowing Buck, who was hustling the moment the ball was hit, to reach home.

One batter later, the Jays made it 4-0 when John McDonald's single to centre scored Encarnacion.

Detroit cut the lead in half with two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Johnny Damon's infield hit brought in Jackson, who began the inning with a triple.

Cabrera's single knocked Toronto Jesse Litsch out and put runners at the corner. Damon then scored on Boesch's sacrifice fly.

Litsch had a solid outing for the Jays, lasting 5 1/3 innings while giving up two earned runs and five hits.

Bonderman struggled through his 5 2/3 innings, allowing eight hits and being charged with four earned runs.

"It's going to take a team effort for us to win ball games," Bonderman said.