This game was over around 4 PM EST. No, that’s not normal, because it wasn’t an expected 1:05 PM EST start — it was a 3:45 PM EST start due to over a two hour rain/radar delay. But the A’s scored twice in the top of the 1st inning and that was all they would need today, as the Tigers only scored once on seven hits. Verlander recovered nicely to record a quality start (7 IP, 3 ER, 8 K), but in the end, it wasn’t enough.
The bottom of the lineup actually held their own in the final two games of the series (10-20) despite their affinity for 0’fers and constantly hovering the Mendoza line. Surprisingly, it was the meat of the lineup — Damon, Ordonez, Cabrera, and Guillen — that was nonexistent, finishing a combined 0-16 today.
Sadly, the biggest hit, outside of a 2-out pinch hit RBI single from Austin Jackson in the 7th inning, came from Dallas Braden before the game when he pulled a page from Todd Jones’ book and acted out an inside the park home run on the wet tarp, capped off with a head first slide into “home.” That, and a Jim Leyland/Justin Verlander argument with umpire Laz Diaz, was about the only entertainment fans saw today.
Tigers are now four games back, but they have the lowly Indians in town, so let’s hope they can take advantage of the slumpbuster when it presents itself.
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