The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers 4-3 to tie their AL Division Series matchup at two games each.
This game…oh man, this game. It actually resembled the first game of this series a lot. Just like Jarrod Parker in game one, AJ Griffin kept the A's in the game on Wednesday, allowing just two runs in five innings. Tigers starter Max Scherzer was even better though, allowing just one run over 5 1/3 for Detroit, striking out six while walking only one. In fact, the game was 2-0 Tigers after five and a half innings, with the visitors scoring one run in the third inning after an RBI single by Austin Jackson and adding another run on a Prince Fielder solo homer in the fourth.
The A's slowly chipped away after Stephen Drew doubled in Coco Crisp in the sixth, but a potential bigger rally was thwarted when Drew was thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a triple. After a pair of scoreless innings by Jerry Blevins kept the Tigers at bay, Sean Doolittle allowed a run on three hits in the eighth to give the Tigers an all-important insurance run. The game went to the bottom of the ninth, and all Detroit needed was three outs from Jose Valverde…three outs that never came.
Josh Reddick singled to start the ninth, and Josh Donaldson immediately followed with a double to put two men in scoring position with none out. Seth Smith hit a double into the gap to score both runners and put himself in scoring position with none out. The inning looked to be over after George Kottaras popped out and Cliff Pennington struck out, but Crisp struck, singling to right field to bring Smith home and give the A's a stunning comeback win to keep their season alive, and make the Tigers sweat a little more.
Game five will be on Thursday in Oakland, once againt at 9:37 PM. The pitching matchup is the same as it was in game one: Jarrod Parker vs Justin Verlander, but this time, the game is in the friendly confines of the Coliseum in Oakland. This one could get good, folks.
