Aftermath: Tigers' Disputed Game 4 Home Run: Did the A's Get Robbed?
Update, 5:30 p.m.: The final — Tigers 8, A's 6. Game 5 is Thursday night at the Coliseum.
Original post: The A's go into Game 4 up two games to one. And if they win this afternoon — well, I'm too superstitious to say directly what that will mean. My inclination is not to get ahead of things.
Anyway, here's our not-exactly-play-by-play account of key moments in the game:
- Coco Crisp led off the game for the A's with a triple and scored on Jed Lowrie's first hit of the series.
- In the second, Seth Smith led off with a single and got to third base with one out but was stranded.
- Josh Donaldson led off the third with an infield single but was wiped out when Lowrie grounded into a 3-6-1 double play (nice work by the Tigers' first baseman Prince Fielder and pitcher Doug Fister on that play).
- The only base runner A's starter Dan Straily has allowed through the first four innings is Prince Fielder, hit by a pitch in the second. Tigers' DH Victor Martinez, the co-star of yesterday's Grant Balfour tiff, followed by grounding into a double play.
- The A's stretched their lead to 3-0 in the top of the fifth when Jed Lowrie homered to drive in Coco Crisp, who had singled.
- Prince Fielder got the Tigers' first hit of the game leading off the bottom of the fifth, a popup that fell along the left-field line for a single. DH Victor Martinez followed with a single, and outfielder Jhonny Peralta hit a three-run homer — all with no one out.
- Tigers Manager Jim Leyland brings in starter Max Scherzer, who mostly shut down the A's in Game 1, to start the seventh. Catcher Stephen Vogt singled and was sacrificed to second by second baseman Eric Sogard. Crisp then delivered, driving in Vogt with a single to give the A's the lead.
- Reliever Sean Doolittle took over in the bottom of the seventh, and immediately gave up a home run to DH Victor Martinez into the first row of the right-field stands. Controversy ensued: Did a fan prevent right-fielder Josh Reddick from catching the ball? The umpires looked at the replay and let the play stand as originally called. The Tigers scored again when left-fielder Austin Jackson singled in Andy Dirks, pinch-running for Jhonny Peralta, who had doubled.
- The A's loaded the bases against Scherzer in the eighth, but right-fielder Josh Reddick and catcher Stephen Vogt struck out, and pinch-hitter Alberto Callaspo lined to center to end the threat.
- In the bottom of the eighth, the Tigers scored three runs off A's reliever Ryan Cook and Brett Anderson. The big hit was a double by Omar Infante, scoring two runs after Anderson had wild-pitched a run in.
- With two out and two on, left-fielder Yoenis Cespedes drove in Coco Crisp to make the score 8-6. Seth Smith struck out to end the game.
B5: Fielder 1B; Martinez 1B; Peralta HR 3RBI; Avila K; Infante F9; Iglesias P3. #Athletics 3 #Tigers 3
— Oakland A's Live (@OakGameLive) October 8, 2013
Here's our Storify tracking the game: