Miguel Cabrera homered twice, including an eighth-inning grand slam, and the Detroit Tigers had no trouble overcoming an early injury to right-hander Max Scherzer in a 12-2 rout of the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.

Cabrera matched a career high with six RBIs and now has 40 homers on the season - also a career best. Prince Fielder and Jhonny Peralta added home runs for the Tigers, who were three games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central coming into the night.

Scherzer left after two innings because of a fatigued throwing shoulder. An MRI showed no structural damage.

Darin Downs (2-1) pitched 2 2-3 scoreless innings for the win.

Oakland rookie A.J. Griffin (6-1) lost for the first time in his career.