DETROIT -- The top of the order has been like an anvil tied to the ankles of Detroit Tigers cleanup hitter Miguel Cabrera.

Austin Jackson and Magglio Ordonez have been in dreadful slumps, and Will Rhymes was batting .221 when sent to Triple-A Toledo on Monday night so hot-hitting Scott Sizemore could be recalled to replace him at second base.

Sizemore, who was hitting .408 at Toledo, got hits in his first three at-bats and sparked Detroit to a 4-2 win Tuesday night against the New York Yankees. Sizemore also scored one run and drove in one.

The Tigers ended a seven-game losing streak.

"I’m not going to say we’re out of the slump," said Detroit manager Jim Leyland. "But I am going to say I do believe its contagious. I’m fired up for Magglio. He had a smile on his face for the first or second time of the year. One gets hits and the others get hits."

Jackson led off the first with a double and Sizemore doubled him to third. Jackson had gone back to tag, anticipating Sizemore’s drive being caught by center fielder Curtis Granderson, who got a glove on it. Ordonez, who had his first two-hit game since April 6 in Baltimore, scored a run with a grounder to second.

"I was real happy," Ordonez said. "I feel happy with two hits and driving in a run."

But he knows slumps don’t end in one game.

"We’ll see," Ordonez said. "We’ll just keep trying. I know for sure that I am not going to hit .200. I am going to be patient and try to help this team."

Ordonez is batting .169 and Jackson is up to .197.

Leyland said Sizemore "sparked us a little" and noted that Jackson "is electrifying" and "stirs up" his teammates by sliding into third for triples.

"It’s a pretty good start for the 1-2-3 in the lineup," said Sizemore of the grouping that totaled seven hits. "It felt pretty good. It’s what you are looking to do early on."

And they did it against CC Sabathia, one of the game’s premier left-handed pitchers.

"You have to look at it as you versus the ball and not who is on the mound so much," Sizemore said.

Sabathia has had trouble pitching in this pitcher’s ballpark, and is a surprising 1-5 with a 5.54 ERA at Comerica Park. But he still had a good chance to win until the fifth.

Brandon Inge walked with one out in the fifth, Jackson tripled and scored on a Sizemore single.

That made it 4-1 and put Detroit in position to win if the pitching was there.

And starter Brad Penny saw to that.

Penny knew he had to get the Tigers deep into this game, and he made it through six innings without allowing and earned run. The big right-hander did it with some guile and some good fortune.

He stranded four runners in the first two innings, and faced just three batters in the sixth despite allowing two singles and not getting a double play. Robinson Cano was out after leaving on a wild pitch, hesitating and getting eliminated in a rundown. And Penny picked off Jorge Posada by stepping off and getting a throw to second base long before Posada could get there.

But the game hinged on a play right fielder Casper Wells made in the fourth.

Posada reached on a fielding error by Sizemore on a routine grounder and then Andruw Jones doubled. Russell Martin, who has had a great first month as a Yankee, then doubled in Posada and put runners on second and third with one out.

Brett Gardner lined a medium-depth fly to right, and Wells caught it with perfect technique to get momentum on his throw. Wells, who had a 95 mph fastball while pitching for Towson University, fired a perfect strike to the plate and nailed Jones attempting to tag and score.

"It was a huge play and he’s a very talented outfielder," Leyland said.

Penny added: "It was awesome -- a great throw right on the money."

Penny (3-4) allowed the unearned run on six hits, two walks and one strikeout. Leyland said he took him out because of shoulder problems, but Penny said he could have pitched another inning and thought Leyland was simply exercising caution.

Leyland said neither Ryan Perry, Brayan Villarreal, Joaquin Benoit nor Al Alburquerque were available to pitch. Benoit was being given a blow after losing two late-inning games over the weekend in Cleveland, and the other three had been used too much recently.

But Penny stepped up, and Daniel Schlereth pitched two innings in which a solo homer by Mark Teixeira represented the lone scoring. Jose Valverde recovered from a shaky Monday outing, when he took the loss, to record his sixth save.