Athletics 6, Tigers 1
Brandon McCarthy struck out eight in seven innings and the host Oakland Athletics snapped Detroit’s 12-game winning streak and prevented the Tigers from clinching the American League Central crown with a 6-1 victory on Thursday.
The Tigers earned a tie for the division title earlier Thursday when the Cleveland Indians lost to Texas. Detroit can sew up the Central with a victory Friday or with a Cleveland loss against Minnesota.
Oakland’s David DeJesus hit a three-run homer in the first off Max Scherzer (14-9), and Kurt Suzuki and Cliff Pennington added solo shots.
Coco Crisp returned from an ankle injury and had a run-scoring double in the ninth as part of a three-hit night.
McCarthy (9-8) allowed just one run and five hits and improved to 8-3 since the All-Star break. Grant Balfour pitched a perfect eighth and Andrew Bailey worked the ninth in a non-save situation.
Delmon Young’s third-inning homer was the only run for Detroit, which fell two games shy of matching the franchise’s longest winning streak of 14 games, accomplished in 1909 and 1934.
Scherzer allowed five runs and seven hits in five innings. He struck out eight and allowed all three Oakland homers.