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TORONTO (AP) -- Orlando Hudson is known for his spectacular defense -- but he can hit, too.

Hudson homered in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Toronto Blue Jays a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night.

Toronto manager John Gibbons thinks Hudson's offense gets overlooked because his defense is so good.

"He gets some big hits for us," Gibbons said. "He's getting better and better."

The 27-year-old second baseman drove a 1-2 pitch from Craig Dingman (0-1) over the center-field wall for his 10th homer this season.

"I was struggling all night, but the baseball gods helped carry it out," said Hudson, who hit the first game-winning homer of his career. "I'm not really known around the league for offense. That's not my type of game. My type of game is to get on base for the big guys behind me."

Dingman hung a slider.

"You hang a pitch like that, he's supposed to hit it," Dingman said.

Shea Hillenbrand also connected for the Blue Jays, who have won two in a row after losing the series opener.

Dmitri Young hit a two-run homer and Magglio Ordonez also went deep for the Tigers, who have lost five of six.

Justin Speier (2-2) pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory.

With a runner on third base, Hudson got the last out of the top of the ninth with a nice grab of a low liner. He threw to first anyway in case the umpire thought it bounced.

Hillenbrand and Aaron Hill hit consecutive singles in the second before Corey Koskie's RBI single.

Rondell White singled in the fourth and scored on Young's homer off Gustavo Chacin. White drew laughter from his teammates when he slipped just as he was about to round third base.

Ordonez made it 3-1 with his homer in the sixth.

Hillenbrand led off the bottom of the sixth with a home run against Nate Robertson. Hill followed with a double, and Robertson hit Koskie with a pitch before Alex Rios tied it at 3 with an RBI double.

Chacin got a no-decision, allowing three runs and five hits in 6 2/3 innings.

Robertson gave up three runs and eight hits in seven innings.

Game notes

Detroit C Ivan Rodriguez served the third game of his four-game suspension for arguing with an umpire. ... Toronto ace Roy Halladay won't return from the disabled list Monday as the team had hoped, and the Blue Jars are unsure when he'll be able to pitch again. Halladay cut short a simulated game after three innings, saying he felt stiffness in his left leg, which was broken by a line drive last month.