Tigers 6, Athletics 5
Rajai Davis scored the tiebreaking run on a fielder’s choice grounder by Austin Jackson in the eighth inning as visiting Detroit downed Oakland.
J.D. Martinez opened the eighth with a walk off Fernando Abad (0-2) before Davis came on as a pinch runner and moved to second on a passed ball. Davis stole third moments later and Nick Castellanos drew a one-out walk in front of Jackson, whose grounder to shortstop Jed Lowrie was deep enough to plate Davis and avoid the inning-ending double play.
Al Alburquerque (2-1) retired the side in the seventh after Ian Krol walked the only batter he faced to get the decision while Joe Nathan tossed a flawless ninth for his 12th save as Detroit won for only the second time in its last nine tries. Miguel Cabrera and Torii Hunter each had a solo shot among their two hits for the Tigers while John Jaso belted a two-run homer for the Athletics.
Detroit got it going in the opening frame, getting run-scoring hits from Cabrera and Martinez while Oakland evened it in the second behind a pair of RBI doubles from Lowrie and Alberto Callaspo. Cabrera put the Tigers back in front in his next at-bat one inning later, hammering a 1-2 cutter from Athletics starter Sonny Gray for his first homer in 10 games before Alex Avila made it 4-2 with a run-scoring double in the fourth.
The Athletics rallied again off Detroit starter Max Scherzer as they opened the bottom half with a pair of singles and Josh Reddick scored on a wild pitch ahead of Jaso, who ripped a changeup down the right-field line for his fifth homer. However, Hunter knotted it at 5-5 with two outs in the seventh, driving reliever Dan Otero’s sinker just over the fence in straightaway center.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The expected pitchers’ duel between two players ranked among the top seven in ERA in the American League did not pan out as Gray yielded a season-high four runs while Scherzer surrendered five runs, each over six frames. … Detroit 2B Ian Kinsler entered the contest batting .400 during an 11-game hitting streak, but went 0-for-5 on Tuesday. … Oakland’s Josh Donaldson drew a walk in the third and has reached base in each of his last 42 games as a third baseman – the longest such streak in team history since at least 1914.