The skipper talked to his team before Thursday afternoon's 5-1 win over the Blue Jays at Comerica Park. He talked about having fun. He spoke about not watching the chance at a division title slip away. He preached playing hard and doing what it takes to win.

Not a rah-rah speech by any means. But he made sure his team didn't stare in a daze as its lofty hopes for this season faded into oblivion.

"I just wanted to make sure we didn't get lulled to sleep with the division slipping away a little bit," Leyland said. "You can always come here dedicated to playing as hard as you can, and I kind of laid that our there for them.

"You can't sit there and tell them, 'Hey, we're going to win this thing.' I'm not, obviously, saying we can't, but sometimes expectations are so high and everything, and see stuff slipping away, you don't quite grind the way you probably need to grind. I just wanted to remind them of that. They did a great job [Thursday], and I know they will the rest of the season."

The pregame chat worked for one day.

This week the Tigers, as their manager put it, did just enough to lose games. It looked like it would happen again Thursday. But in the end, they did enough to win.

Rookie sensation Armando Galarraga pitched eight innings of one-run ball to tie the Major League lead for rookie wins. The offense backed him with a five-run eighth to help the Tigers avoid a four-game sweep.

"Get the win. Nothing else matters right now," Miguel Cabrera said.

The Tigers looked like they would end this four-game series without even a whimper -- until the eighth.

Placido Polanco got things rolling with a one-out walk and then moved to second on a wild pitch by Jays reliever Jason Frasor, putting the tying run in scoring position with two outs. Cabrera came through with a single to left, his 92nd RBI of the season, to tie it.

After Gary Sheffield was intentionally walked, Matt Joyce walked to load the bases for Edgar Renteria. The Tigers shortstop laced a double to left-center to score Cabrera and Sheffield, and the 41,259 on-hand roared.

"That's the Edgar Renteria I've known for all these years," Leyland said.

The Jays brought in pitcher Shawn Camp to quell the rally, but Brandon Inge greeted him with a two-run single to left, giving the Tigers a 5-1 lead.

All five runs came with two outs.

"Two-out runs are devastating to the other team," said Inge, who started at third base. "At the same time, it's good to see us come from behind. For whatever reason, it hasn't been happening. It's not for a lack of effort, though. But we got it done. It's a good feeling."

Fernando Rodney worked a 1-2-3 ninth to give the Tigers just their fourth win in their past 11 games.

With his victory, Galarraga tied Atlanta's rookie right-hander Jair Jurrjens with 11 wins this season. Galarraga attacked the strike zone with his sinker and slider, while using a changeup in which he has steadily grown more confident. He allowed only six hits in his eight frames, striking out six and walking two.

"I wanted to keep the game tight and not give up a lot of runs," Galarraga said. "When we started scoring the five runs, I was real happy. That's what everyone was looking for."

Galarraga threw a season-high 121 pitches, but he said he would not need extra rest.

"No rest. I'm ready to go," he said.

The calm, burly right-hander allowed only two hits and one walk through the first four frames, striking out four.

In the fifth inning, Lyle Overbay drilled a Galarraga first-pitch fastball high and deep to right for a 1-0 Jays lead.

Galarraga faced his stiffest test in the top of the eighth. Still trailing, 1-0, Galarraga surrendered a one-out triple to Alex Rios. Leyland pulled his infield in, and Galarraga knew he needed a Vernon Wells ground ball to give his team a chance.

Leyland faced a tough decision: bring in a reliever or stay with Galarraga, who at that point had thrown more than 100 pitches.

"I felt like he deserved to be out there," Leyland said. "It was a tough call, but like I said, he deserved it and he got the ground ball."

Renteria made a diving stop, checked the runner at third and tossed to first for the second out of the inning. Matt Stairs grounded to second to end the threat and set the stage for Detroit to claim a much-needed win.

"We played hard and played the game right," Renteria said. "We did what we needed to do."