Rodriguez's first MLB HR caps 3-blast frame

DETROIT -- The Tigers opened Players' Weekend with new-look jerseys for the occasion against the White Sox, but a familiar fate for James Shields. Ronny "El Felino" Rodriguez hit his first Major League home run as part of a three-homer sixth inning off Shields as Detroit built a 5-0 lead. The Tigers would go on to win the game, 7-2.
"You like to see that," manager Ron Gardenhire said of Rodriguez's homer and the celebration that followed. "He had a good smile on his face. All the guys were happy for him."
Rodriguez, Mikie Mahtook and Nick Castellanos hit solo homers in a four-batter span, as Shields allowed three home runs in a contest at Comerica Park for the second straight season.
Castellanos led off the inning by turning on a 2-0 fastball from Shields and sending it deep to left. His 19th home run of the season was his fifth off White Sox pitching.

Jim Adduci lined out to second base two pitches later, but Mahtook and Rodriguez followed with back-to-back drives to left. Mahtook's third home run this season, all in the last week, came off a 2-2 fastball that was up and in. Two pitches later, Shields hung a curveball to Rodriguez, who sent it out for his first big league homer in his 108th at-bat.

The three blasts mark the second three-homer inning this season for the Tigers.