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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Jeremy Bonderman just wanted to stay aggressive against the Minnesota Twins.

Bonderman allowed five hits in his first complete game of the season, and the Detroit Tigers beat Minnesota 7-2 Tuesday night for their sixth win in seven games.

Bonderman (9-4) threw first-pitch strikes to 25 of 31 hitters in his 107-pitch gem, walking two and fanning a season-high nine for his third career complete game.

"I went out and attacked the zone, and I tried to make them hit my pitches early in the game," said Bonderman, who came in 0-4 with a 9.93 ERA against the Twins. "No matter what, you've got to attack the zone and put them on the defensive."

The win put the Tigers a game over .500 for the first time since late April. But they followed that high-water mark by losing six of their next seven games, a fate they hope to avoid repeating with the strong pitching, timely hitting and solid defense they displayed Tuesday.

"Sometimes when we play like this, we look pretty good," Tigers manager Alan Trammell said. "We just haven't been able to sustain it."

Placido Polanco, who's batting .405 in 10 games since he was acquired in a trade with Philadelphia, had three hits for the Tigers, whose recent surge coincided with Polanco's arrival.

"He can just hit the ball," Bonderman said. "He's a great player. He fouls pitches off and makes guys work, and he plays great defense behind us."

Kyle Lohse (5-6) gave up six runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings and lost his third straight start.

"They're a free-swinging club and I was getting deep counts," Lohse said. "Those two things don't really match up."

Lohse wiggled out of a first-inning jam when he struck out Dmitri Young and got Rondell White to ground into a double play with runners on first and third.

But he needed 26 pitches to get through the inning, including 13 to Polanco, who fouled off seven straight pitches before hitting a single to left. That extra work caught up to Lohse in the middle innings, as the Tigers scored three runs in both the fourth and fifth.

Chris Shelton's two-run single with one out was the big hit in the fourth. Brandon Inge walked to lead off the fifth, and one out later, Young hit a 436-foot homer to center field.

Bonderman allowed a one-out double by Joe Mauer in the first, but catcher Ivan Rodriguez picked him off second base to end the inning.

The Twins scored in the fourth when Shannon Stewart bounced a bad-hop double past Inge at third base, and Lew Ford singled up the middle. Jacque Jones' RBI single cut the Tigers' lead to 6-2 in the fifth.

But Bonderman was in charge after that, retiring 10 of his final 11 hitters.

"We've been facing Bonderman for two years now and have been saying that once he puts it together, he's going to be dominant," Minnesota's Torii Hunter said. "He did it tonight against us."

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was equally impressed with Detroit's third-year pitcher. Minnesota was facing Bonderman for the first time this season.

"We've read reports that he's been throwing the ball a lot better," Gardenhire said. "He's a young man, still learning the game, but you know you're looking at a young pitcher with a lot of great stuff and tonight he showed it."

The Twins slipped a season-high nine games behind the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central with an offense that's struggling. In their last three games -- all losses -- they've scored five runs on a total of 17 hits.

"We're going to string a few hits in a row one of these games, but not tonight," Gardenhire said. "We're searching a bit right now, trying to find out how to get away from this thing. We've got to find it quick."

Game notes

Hunter stole a home run from Inge in the third inning, catching his drive to right-center 5 feet above the fence for the third out. Inge stayed on the field and as Hunter jogged past, Inge flipped his helmet to the ground, "tipping his cap" as a sign of respect. ... Inge stole second base in the first inning, giving the Tigers 11 straight successful steal attempts. ... Lohse has lost three straight starts for the first time since August 2001.