J Colome: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K D Young: 3-5, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 RBI

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Shane Halter , Dmitri Young and Carlos Pena each had three hits and two RBI and the Detroit Tigers banged out a season-high 15 hits in a 9-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays .

Eric Munson had a solo homer and Bobby Higginson added two hits and an RBI as the Tigers avoided their seventh sweep of the season. The nine runs tied a season high for Detroit, which snapped a six-game losing streak in Tampa Bay and has won five of its last seven overall since a 3-25 start.

"We haven't had many like this," Tigers manager Alan Trammell said. "It's a relief to know that if you give up a couple of runs you aren't going to lose the lead. It was nice to see the bats. It was a nice little road trip (4-2). It feels good to win."

Young came close to a cycle for the second time this season, coming within a home run of the feat. His run-scoring triple highlighted a three-run first inning - the highest output in the opening inning for the Tigers.

"This body isn't made for triples," joked Young, whose family was in attendance Sunday. On Tuesday, he went 5-for-5, with two two home runs and two triples, in a win at Baltimore. The Tigers' designated hitter is batting .395 with 15 RBI in his last 12 contests.

Detroit scored three more runs in the second inning and Halter's RBI single gave the Tigers an 8-0 lead after three.

"The Devil Rays pitchers did a good job the first two days," Young said. "Today, I think we were a little made. We ended up the road trip at 4-2 and that is a positive step."

The recipient of all the offense was Nate Cornejo (3-2), who allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings. He has yielded only five runs in his past four starts.

"Nate's been the beneficiary of a few runs and we haven't seen that much," Trammell said. "Our guys have pitched darn well. It's a good lesson and he knows that it works (to get outs without strikeouts). He's getting success."

"It was good to get this win," Cornejo said. "We swung the bats great today. That gives me the opportunity to go out and challenge hitters. We came out swinging and got some early runs. It's much easier as a pitcher to go out there and it gave me more confidence."

Steve Avery of Detroit made his first regular season appearance in the major leagues since July 23, 1999. He pitched a scoreless eighth, yielding one hit and one strikeout, for the Tigers, who purchased the contract of the lefthander from Class AAA Toledo on Friday.

"It was a little tough being out there because I was quite (pumped)," the former All-Star for the Atlanta Braves said. "I tried all my old tactics to calm down and none of it worked. Four years is a long time. It is definitely understandable to be a little (pumped). I just wanted to get in there."

Jorge Sosa (1-5) took the loss after getting roughed up for six runs and six hits in 1 1/3 innings. He has dropped his four starts since winning at Baltimore on April 19. The righthander, converted to a pitcher after spending his first six professional seasons as an outfielder in the Colorado and Seattle organizations, fell to 3-11 in his major league career.

"He didn't throw very well," Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella said. "They were getting to him. A couple of hits were of the seeing-eye variety. But at the same time, they swung the bat well off him."

Aubrey Huff belted his 10th homer and Marlon Anderson had a run-scoring single for the Devil Rays , who failed to win three straight games for the first time this season.

"We've had a chance in four of the last six series to sweep and haven't done it," Piniella said. "After you beat a team two or three times in a row, you would think on a getaway day you would put a team away once in a while. We've been in a position to do it four of the last six series but we haven't been able to do it."

Anderson put Tampa Bay on the board with an RBI single in the fourth and Huff homered off Cornejo in the sixth to pull the Devil Rays within, 8-2. But Monroe restored Detroit's seven-run advantage with a sacrifice fly.