OAKLAND, Calif. — The answer is Justin Verlander.
The question can be just about anything:
Which active pitcher would you want on the mound most in a winner-take-all game?
Who’s most likely to make history every time it’s his turn in the starting rotation?
What’s the primary reason the Tigers are headed to their third straight American League Championship Series and the Athletics are one-and-done in the postseason yet again?
It’s Verlander, who flirted with both a perfect game and a no-hitter before settling for a merely brilliant, eight-inning, two-hit 3-0 victory over the A’s Thursday in Game 5 of the AL Division Series at O.co Coliseum that advanced his Tigers to the ALCS against the Red Sox — Game 1 is Saturday night at Fenway Park — and sent the A’s home with a 1-7 mark in playoff series under renowned general manager Billy Beane.
“Obviously, it’s something that you dream about as a kid,” a non-alcoholic champagne-soaked Verlander said after the game. “It’s win or go home. You visualize when you’re 10 years old in your backyard: Game 5, Game 7, got to win. It’s pretty exciting to have gone out there twice in that scenario and done a good job.”
Indeed, in a near-déjà vu of the 2012 ALDS, Verlander walked one and struck out 10 while throwing 111 pitches, 76 for strikes; Tigers closer Joaquin Benoit threw a shutout ninth for the save, withstanding a two-out rally in which the A’s brought the tying run to the plate in Seth Smith — who popped out to Detroit right fielder Torii Hunter to end it.
On October 11, 2012, Verlander finished off the A’s in Game 5 with a four-hit, one-walk, 11-strikeout shutout, a 6-0 victory. This time, the 2011 AL Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Award winner had a perfect game going until one out in the sixth inning, when Josh Reddick drew a free pass. And Verlander carried a no-hitter into the seventh, when Yoenis Cespedes drilled a clean, two-out single up the middle, drawing cheers from the home crowd.
“Yeah, there were thoughts of a no-hitter,” Verlander admitted. “I shoved those to the back of my mind. I think you see guys have no-hitters late in a game and give up a hit and the wheels kind of fall off, and you get erratic.”
The normally rowdy A’s fans — who tried to get in Verlander’s head during his pregame warm-ups by holding large photos of his ex-girlfriend Kate Upton, the supermodel — didn’t have much to cheer about. Reigning AL MVP Miguel Cabrera, who has been slowed considerably by lower-body ailments, powered a two-run, fourth-inning homer to left field off A’s rookie starter Sonny Gray to break the dual shutout, and the Tigers picked up an insurance run in the sixth.
“Everybody talks about what’s going on with me,” Cabrera said. “You know, everybody can talk what they can talk. I want to do my job, man. I want to be with the team. I want to play with my heart.”
Oakland manager Bob Melvin bypassed veteran and Game 1 starter Bartolo Colon in favor of Gray, who pitched extremely well in Game 2. It proved to be a decent decision, as Gray allowed three runs in five-plus innings. But the A’s would have had a better chance if Melvin could have convinced Tigers manager Jim Leyland to pull Verlander.
“He was locked in tonight,” Leyland said of Verlander, who struggled for much of the 2013 season. “This was a big challenge for him. He did it here last year, he’s done it on several occasions for us, and he did it once again.”
When the A’s jumped out to a 3-0 lead in Tuesday’s Game 4 at Comerica Park, already owning a 2-1 lead in games, they appeared headed for their first ALCS since 2006. Oakland’s bullpen faltered, however, allowing the Tigers to prevail, 8-6. And most important, that allowed Verlander to become a factor once more.
Now he’ll try to help the Tigers stop the Red Sox’s fearsome offense, likely in Game 3 of the ALCS Tuesday. It’ll be a challenge. Yet if Detroit winds up winning its first World Series since 1984, you can bet Verlander will have been a huge reason why. He’s the usually the answer to Tigers prosperity.