Baltimore ? Tired of being ridiculed, the Detroit Tigers are doing the only thing that can guarantee an end to their misery: win.

Brandon Inge ended a monthlong slump with the first two-homer game of his career, and the Tigers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-4, Wednesday for their first road sweep since 2001.

Craig Monroe homered and drove in four runs for the Tigers, who have won four straight following a 3-25 start. Detroit outscored the Orioles 22-11 in its first series sweep in Baltimore since September 1993.

“We felt confident, we really did. Did we think sweep? No,” Monroe said. “Our first goal was to go out and win the series. This just put a cherry on top.”

The Tigers went 34-for-109 (.309) in the series, raising their batting average from .195 to 207. Detroit has won more games in the last four days than in the first 34 days of the season.

“I don’t know how many more wins it will take for everyone to stop being sarcastic about ‘The Tigers win,'” Detroit manager Alan Trammell said. “We’re getting a lot of national publicity, a lot of national press — and not the way you’d like to have it.”

Trammell has done his best to keep his players upbeat, and it seems to have produced the desired results.

“Tram has done a good job of keeping us believing in this team,” Monroe said. “I don’t know how’s he’s done it, but he did it.”

Inge, who entered with a .127 batting average, homered in his first two at-bats against Omar Daal to send Detroit to its first three-game sweep on the road since May 1-3, 2001, at Texas.

Tigers manager Alan Trammell gives two thumbs up after Detroit finished a series sweep of Baltimore. The Tigers defeated the Orioles, 9-4, Wednesday in Baltimore.

Inge worked with hitting coach Bruce Fields earlier in the week, focusing primarily on the weight transfer to his front foot while swinging.

“I didn’t expect anything this soon. Usually when you make a change it takes awhile,” Inge said.

Inge entered looking for his first homer run since July 15. He’s hitting .065 against right-handers and was 7-for-57 (.123) since April 6, but he’s hitting .147 now after his first multihit game since July 15. Detroit starter Gary Knotts (1-3) allowed four runs and six hits in five innings to earn his first AL win. He was 4-2 in two seasons with the Florida Marlins.

David Segui went 3-for-3 with a homer and a walk for the Orioles, who have lost four straight to fall under .500 (16-17) for the first time since April 26.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” Baltimore second baseman Jerry Hairston said. “You never want to get swept by anybody, whether it’s the Yankees, Boston, Twins or Tigers. You knew those guys weren’t going to hit .180 all year, and unfortunately, they got hot against us.”

Daal (2-4) gave five runs and eight hits in four innings. The left-hander had allowed only one homer in 352/3 innings before yielding two to Inge.

The Tigers went up 6-4 in the seventh when Rick Bauer issued a bases-loaded walk to Monroe. It marked the fifth straight game that Detroit has scored six runs, following a 27-game run in which the Tigers reached six only twice.

Dean Palmer singled in a run off Jorge Julio in the ninth before Monroe hit a two-run shot to give the Tigers a season-high nine runs.

Segui put the Orioles up 1-0 with his first homer, but Detroit took the lead for good in the second when Inge homered after a walk to Shane Halter.

An RBI single by Monroe made it 3-1 in the third. Segui singled and scored on a groundout by Jay Gibbons in the bottom half.

Inge homered again leading off the fourth. Former Oriole Gene Kingsale followed with a double and scored on a single by Omar Infante for a 5-2 lead.

Baltimore scored twice in the fifth when Jeff Conine drove in a run with a groundout and Gibbons followed with a sacrifice fly.

Tigers DH Dmitri Young, coming off a 5-for-5 night in which he amassed 15 bases, went 1-for-5.

Angels 6, Indians 5

Anaheim, Calif. — Troy Glaus homered and capped a three-run seventh inning with a go-ahead RBI single as Anaheim rallied to beat Cleveland, sending the Indians to their eighth straight road loss. Brian Anderson and John Lackey had no-decisions in a matchup of Angels No. 1 draft picks. Anderson departed with a 5-3 lead after six innings before the Cleveland bullpen recorded its sixth blown save in 11 chances.

Trailing 5-2, the Angels began chipping away. Glaus led off the sixth with a triple and scored on Shawn Wooten’s sacrifice fly.

David Eckstein and pinch-hitter Jeff DaVanon doubled with one out in the seventh against Dave Elder (1-1), and Tim Salmon singled home Eric Owens after Elder’s wild pitch.

Garret Anderson singled off Carl Sadler, and Glaus greeted David Riske with his RBI single to center on the first pitch.

Anaheim’s Brendan Donnelly worked a scoreless eighth despite allowing two hits, retiring pinch-hitter Bill Selby and Matt Lawton with runners at the corners. Troy Percival recorded three outs for his fourth save in four attempts.

Rangers 5, Blue Jays 4

Arlington, Texas — Alex Rodriguez hit a tiebreaking home run and Texas beat Toronto, stopping the Blue Jays’ five-game winning streak. Rafael Palmeiro of the Rangers remained two short of 500 home runs after going 0-for-4 with three flyouts and a strikeout, but Carlos Delgado and Juan Gonzalez each hit their 12th homers, tying for the major-league lead. Rodriguez’s 11th homer led off the sixth put the Rangers ahead to stay at 4-3.

Delgado’s solo homer in the first was his third in two nights against Texas. That gave the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead and increased his major league-leading RBIs total to 37.

Gonzalez, who was 3-for-4, got even with Delgado in the home run race and tied the game at 3-3 when he homered leading off the fourth.

After Rodriguez’s homer, Tanyon Sturtze (3-3) recorded two quick outs before Ruben Sierra beat out an infield single. Rookie Mark Teixeira then drove Sierra home and chased Sturtze with a double.

Sturtze allowed five runs and eight hits over 5 2-3 innings.

Aaron Fultz (1-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings in relief of starter Joaquin Benoit while making his 19th appearance in 33 games. Ugueth Urbina worked the ninth for his 10th save in 11 chances.

Toronto led 3-0 after the first four batters against Benoit. Shannon Stewart led off with his AL-leading 16th double, Frank Catalanotto tripled and Vernon Wells hit an RBI groundout before Delgado’s homer.

Rangers manager Buck Showalter then visited the mound, and Benoit retired 14 of the next 17 batters. The right-hander struck out six and walked one before Fultz took over to start the sixth.

Twins 11, Devil Rays 6

St. Petersburg, Fla. — A.J. Pierzynski hit a grand slam and Bobby Kielty also homered as Minnesota beat Tampa Bay for its 10th straight victory against the Devil Rays. Juan Rincon (1-0) pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Joe Mays to earn his first major league win. The AL Central champions have won seven of eight to climb two games over .500.

Kielty and Pierzynski, who had a career-high five RBIs, homered off Joe Kennedy (2-3) during Minnesota’s seven-run fifth inning. Tampa Bay scored five times in the fourth to take a 6-4 lead.

Five days after pitching a one-hitter at Detroit, Kennedy allowed 10 runs on 13 hits in four-plus innings.

The Twins scored four runs in the first, but didn’t do any more damage against Kennedy until the fifth.

Mays allowed six runs on nine hits in 32/3 innings.

After retiring his first batter, Kennedy allowed six straight hits — including RBI singles by Kielty, Torii Hunter and Dustan Mohr. Pierzynski drove in the fourth run with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.

Six straight Twins also reached base before Kennedy was lifted in the fifth. Kielty led off with his fifth homer of the season, and Pierzynski’s first career slam put Minnesota up 9-6.

Jacque Jones drove in the last run charged to Kennedy with a double off Mike Venafro. Cristian Guzman’s RBI single finished the seven-run outburst.