ON TARGET: Brett Anderson stifled the Tigers through six innings last night, and his performance helped pave the way to a 2-0 Athletics victory in Game 3 of the ALDS. (
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OAKLAND, Calif. — Brett Anderson pitched the game of his young career, and the A’s have life because of it.
And because Anderson came up so big, the A’s posted a 2-0 triumph over the Tigers last night that sliced Detroit’s ALDS lead to 2-1, with Game 4 set for tonight.
“They pitched and played a perfect game,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said of the A’s. “Anderson had a good curve gall and their bullpen lined up for them.”
The A’s scored solo runs in the first and fifth innings — the latter on a home run by Seth Smith — and that’s all the offense they needed as the Tigers bats were dormant against Anderson and the A’s relievers.
“We just didn’t do much offensively, and you credit their pitching,” Leyland said.
Anderson did his best to make sure the Tigers would not clinch the series on his watch as he was in charge all night. He kept Tigers hitters off-balance with sharp off-speed offerings and a consistent fastball. Anderson was lifted early by A’s manager Bob Melvin after 80 pitches in six innings, giving up only two hits and no runs.
“There was a lot of discussion because he [Anderson] wasn’t aware that there was a pitch count,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We didn’t want to push him too hard. I don’t know how you could expect more than what we got out of him tonight.”
“You’d like to stay in, being a competitor,” Anderson said. “I can see both sides of it and fortunately our bullpen shut them down.”
Tigers right-hander Anibal Sanchez pitched well despite taking the defeat. He gave up five hits and two runs in 6 ¹/₃ innings.
Anderson suffered a strained right oblique and only went 2 ¹/₃ innings on Sept. 19 in Detroit, taking the loss in a in a 6-2 Tigers victory. He hadn’t pitched since, and the obvious question was how he would hold up coming back from the injury. His performance silenced any doubts.
“There’s nothing better than having Brett out there with his best stuff,” A’s closer Grant Balfour said. “To have him healthy means the world to us.”
Added Oakland’s Josh Reddick: “Brett has been doing that all year for us since he came off the DL. He went through a lot of pain and grinded it out and got us a win.”
With three years of MLB experience and on the mend from a 2011 rotator cuff surgery, Anderson, 24, was making his first career postseason start and is the fifth youngest pitcher in Oakland history to take the hill in a playoff game.
“I wasn’t nervous, I had some adrenaline flowing early,” Anderson said. “I was able to make some big pitches when I had to. I probably had my best inning in the sixth so I was able to finish on a strong note.”
The A’s victory ends a streak of futility against the Tigers in the postseason. After getting swept the first two games in Detroit, the A’s had lost their last six straight postseason games, all of which had come against Detroit. The A’s were swept by Detroit in the 2006 ALCS, with the possibility it would happen again in 2012.
“This gets us to tomorrow,” Melvin said.
The A’s wasted little time sending a message to the Tigers that they wouldn’t be swept. Anderson retired Detroit in order in the top of the first inning and the A’s scored a run in the bottom of the inning on a single by Coco Crisp, a walk to Stephen Drew and an RBI-single up the middle by Yoenis Cespedes.
“The first inning it was great to score a run, get the fans involved and get some excitement out there,” Melvin said. “It was nice to get a little momentum early in the game and carry it through.”
With the A’s up 1-0, Fielder smashed a long drive to deep right-center field that seemed destined for a solo home-run. Crisp, however, had other ideas, as he raced to the fence, leapt and snagged the ball with his glove above the fence, robbing Fielder of a round-tripper. The Oakland fans roared in approval.
“It was a great catch, no question about it,” Leyland said. “Coco gave them a lot of momentum when he took that home run away from fielder.”
The A’s widened their lead to 2-0 after a solo blast by Seth Smith to dead-center in the fifth. Also, Fielder was robbed of a single by a hard-charging Cespedes, who dove for the catch.
A’s relievers turned out the lights on the Tigers’ bats in the final three innings. Ryan Cook pitched a scoreless seventh, Sean Doolittle struck out the side in the eighth, and Balfour shut the door for the save in contrast to Game 2 when he took the loss in the ninth.
“It was a very good baseball game,” Leyland said. “You have to tip your hat to them.”