MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Brad Ausmus swears he wasn't surprised by the oddball plays in the Detroit Tigers' extra-inning victory over the Minnesota Twins.

"These are two very odd teams," said Ausmus, who homered in the seventh and drove in the winning run in the 11th as the Tigers beat the Twins 8-6 Thursday night.

"We're not normal," Ausmus said of the Tigers, who have the worst production in the majors, and the Twins, who have the lowest payroll. "We're battling teams trying to establish some type of winning atmosphere, and to do that, sometimes you've got to scrap."

That they did.

Five of the Tigers' runs came after they had two out and nobody on. Half their runs were unearned, including three that followed a catcher's interference call.

"Blooper here, blooper there, home run, over our head in the outfield, catcher's interference," Twins manager Tom Kelly said. "We run the gamut here."

With runners at second and third in the 11th, Ausmus hit an RBI grounder up the middle off Eddie Guardado that shortstop Cristian Guzman fielded. He threw wildly to first, allowing another run to score.

"We've seen our share of breaks go the other way," said Bob Melvin, acting as the Detroit manager while Phil Garner serves an eight-game suspension for his part in an April 22 brawl.

Matt Anderson (2-0) picked up the victory with two scoreless innings and Todd Jones pitched the 11th for his sixth save.

Deivi Cruz's double off Bob Wells (0-2) put runners at second and third with one out in the 11th. That brought on Guardado, who struck out pinch-hitter Rob Fick before Ausmus' single.

Ausmus also homered off Eric Milton leading in the seventh to break a 5-5 tie.

Dave Mlicki, seeking his first win since Sept. 29, 1999, also at the Metrodome, left with a 6-5 lead after seven innings. But Jacque Jones homered off Doug Brocail leading off the eighth.

The Tigers trailed 4-2 when they rallied for three unearned runs with two outs in the sixth, thanks to a catcher's interference call.

Damion Easley beat out an infield single and Wendell Magee reached on Matt LeCroy's interference. Gregg Jefferies singled home Easley, and Deivi Cruz followed with a two-run double off the glove of Jones in left field, giving Detroit a 5-4 lead.

Denny Hocking's RBI double tied it at 5 in the bottom of the inning.

Mlicki gave up three straight extra base hits to start the game. Guzman led off with a triple and scored on Hocking's double. Matt Lawton's double drove in Hocking, and Lawton scored on David Ortiz's fielder's choice.

Detroit pulled to 3-2 in the third on Juan Encarnacion's two-run homer, his fifth, that extended his career-high hitting streak to 16 games.

Game notes
Tigers first baseman Tony Clark was a late scratch with a muscle strain on his right side. He was replaced by Jefferies. ... The Twins optioned second baseman Todd Walker, who's been shaky at the plate and in the field, to Triple-A Salt Lake City. The Twins brought up infielder Jay Canizaro. ... Bobby Higginson hit the roof with a flyout in the seventh.