DETROIT -- There were not many bright spots Wednesday night for the Detroit Tigers. Doug Fister got banged around for seven runs. The bullpen struggled. The Tigers scored one run in the first seven innings before rallying for three more after the game was well out of reach.

Torii Hunter turned in the best game for the Tigers

. He hit a solo home run and fell a triple short of the cycle. And designated hitter Victor Martinez went about his business like he always does. He grinded out his at-bats and finished with three hits.

"If you watched this game tonight, I think it describes Victor Martinez," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "I mean, we're way behind. Obviously, we're not going to win the game. And he's grinding out his at-bats like the winning run is on third base in the seventh game of the World Series. That's why we love Victor Martinez."

Martinez is a few hot games away from hitting for .300 for the season. Think about that. Martinez hit .221 with nine RBIs in April. He hit .235 in May. His average was below .260 at the All-Star break.

Now he's hitting .294 with a .762 OPS and 70 RBIs. His average and OPS still aren't as high as his career numbers, but he's got them headed in the right direction after a slow start.

"This guy's hitting .294 now," Hunter said. "It shows no matter how you are, you are what you are. At the end of the season, your numbers are going to be where they should be. It's not how you start, it's how you finish."

Just two months earlier, on June 28, Martinez was hitting .225, and some Tigers fans were calling for him to be dropped in -- or even from -- the lineup. In the two months since, Martinez is hitting .379 (80-for-211) with five home runs and 30 RBIs, and some fans are calling for him to hit fourth.

Martinez raised his batting average four points in the game Wednesday night with his three hits, the last of which came in the bottom of the eighth with his team trailing 14-1.

"That's why Victor Martinez is a great hitter," Leyland said. "He could have cashed it in. He could have asked to come out and get a little break for his legs, even though he's the DH. But he was grinding those at-bats out right until the end."

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