DETROIT (AP) – The Detroit Tigers staved off history with a startling rally, coming from eight runs down to beat the Minnesota Twins 9-8 on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday night.

Detroit was in danger of matching the modern major league record of 120 losses set by the expansion 1962 New York Mets.

But after trailing 8-0 early, the scrappy Tigers scored three times in the seventh and four more in the eighth to make it 8-all.

In the ninth, Alex Sanchez walked with one out and stole two bases. Warren Morris then struck out on a wild pitch from Jesse Orosco (1-1) as the ball went to the backstop.

Sanchez scored standing up as the Tigers streamed from the dugout and the sparse crowd cheered.

After a season filled with losing under first-year manager Alan Trammell, the Tigers suddenly have turned tough – just when it seemed they would own a record that nobody wanted.

Detroit won for the fourth time in five games. This victory came against the AL Central champion Twins, who started eight regulars but pulled all of them before the eighth inning.

The Tigers (42-119) now will try to avoid tying the post-1900 record for losses when they finish the season Sunday against the Twins.

Mike Maroth, 8-21 and the first pitcher to lose 20 games in nearly a quarter-century, will start for Detroit.

The crowd at Comerica Park was announced as 14,277, but only about 5,000 appeared to be in the stands in the late innings. The promise of a postgame fireworks show certainly kept some fans in the seats.

“People really don’t seem to care because they’ve had enough,” fan Dan Helvey said. “So be it. It’s football season so it’s blase.”

Still, the fans who showed up were spirited before the comeback. They even did the Wave, and no boos were heard.

And the fans who stayed until the end were rewarded with a real treat.

The Twins threatened to take the lead in the ninth after Justin Morneau led off with a double. With the crowd on its feet – again – reliever Fernando Rodney (1-3) struck out Rob Bowen to end the inning and strand Morneau at third base.

Catcher Brandon Inge flipped the baseball into the stands over the dugout.

Sanchez finished with four stolen bases, and his last two set up the winning run.

Minnesota took the lead right from the beginning, getting a run in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Doug Mientkiewicz off Gary Knotts.

The Twins added four more with five straight hits in the fourth, highlighted by RBI doubles from Torii Hunter and A.J. Pierzynski.

Jacque Jones hit a solo homer and Michael Ryan had a two-run shot in the fifth that made it 8-0.

The Tigers began their comeback in the fifth on Craig Monroe’s RBI single off Brad Radke.

Radke tuned up for his start in Game 2 of the playoffs against New York at Yankee Stadium, allowing one run and eight hits over five innings.

Carlos Pena hit a two-run single in a three-run seventh as Detroit pulled to 8-4.

Then, the Tigers struck for four runs in the eighth to tie it at 8.

After Juan Rincon walked two of the first three batters in the inning, J.C. Romero walked two straight batters to force home a run.

Monroe hit an RBI single and Pena followed by grounding a tying, two-run single past diving second baseman Alex Prieto.

Notes: Mientkiewicz played after missing three games with a sore left wrist. … Radke walked Inge in the fourth, snapping a streak of 132 batters without a walk.

AP-ES-09-27-03 2237EDT