Duane Burleson / AP

Detroit's Placido Polanco hits a RBI-double in the 10th inning. The Tigers beat the Cardinals on Saturday on his timely double.

updated 12:05 a.m. ET June 25, 2006

DETROIT - Jim Leyland insists it’s not Motown magic — just a group of gritty players refusing to give up.

Placido Polanco’s two-out double in the 10th scored Curtis Granderson from first base and lifted the Detroit Tigers to a 7-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night, earning their fifth victory when trailing after eight innings.

In the ninth, Marcus Thames tied the score at 6-all with a two-run homer off Jason Isringhausen, who entered the game with a two-run lead.

“Everybody is talking the magic. There’s no magic — it’s hard work, concentration, playing nine innings your best,” Leyland said. “Did I like our chances with Jason Isringhausen on the mound in the ninth inning? No, I didn’t? But sometimes when you keep grinding it out, things happen. He got a ball up and Marcus smoked it.”

Granderson led off the ninth with an infield single, and after Isringhausen struck out Polanco, Thames followed with a shot into the left-field seats that brought a roaring, sellout crowd of 42,535 to its feet.

The Cardinals did not think Granderson should’ve been on first, putting the tying run at the plate.

“The ball, it looked on the replays like it went off his foot,” Isringhausen said.

With the fired-up fans chanting, ’Let’s go Tigers,’ Magglio Ordonez hit a double and advanced to third on a flyout, but Craig Monroe struck out — sending the game into extra innings.

“No matter what the situation is, even if we’re ahead, it’s not over until we walk off the field,” said Granderson, who was 4-for-5 with three runs, an RBI and a walk.

The Tigers became the first team in baseball to reach 50 wins, with their eighth victory in nine games.

St. Louis has lost five straight for the first time this season.

Tyler Johnson (0-1) relieved Isringhausen with two outs, then allowed Granderson to reach on a walk. Polanco followed with a double to the right-center wall, allowing Granderson to score easily and setting off a celebration on the field — and in the stands.

“We’ve won games like that — we’ve broken people’s hearts before,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “Tonight, we got our hearts broken.”

Joel Zumaya (4-1) pitched the 10th to earn the win.

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The Cardinals handed Isringhausen a 6-4 lead, keyed by Scott Rolen’s two RBIs on sacrifice flies, Albert Pujols’ run-scoring grounder and a slew of sick defensive plays.

St. Louis starter Jeff Suppan gave up three runs, nine hits and three walks. He threw 55 pitches in the first two innings, and 39 over the next three.

“The first two innings, I wound up throwing a lot of pitches, which effected me later in the game and limited the amount of innings I could go,” Suppan said.

Cardinals relievers Adam Wainwright and Braden Looper combined to pitch three innings, giving up only one run, before Isringhausen blew his fifth save in 29 opportunities.

Tigers ace Kenny Rogers allowed six runs — five runs — seven hits and three walks, two of which were intentional to Pujols and Rolen, over 5 1-3 innings. Relievers Roman Colon, Jamie Walker and Jason Grilli didn’t give up a run over 3 2-3 innings, allowing Detroit to come back.

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