(Saturday, April 16th)
Final Score: Oakland 6, Detroit 2
Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - Hideki Matsui drove in a run and scored during Oakland's three-run fourth inning, putting the Athletics on top for good en route to a 6-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers in the third meeting of a four-game series.
Dallas Braden (1-1) exited with stiffness in his throwing shoulder after allowing one unearned run on three hits in five innings for the A's, whose combined to allow one run on three hits and four walks over the final four frames.
Justin Verlander (1-2) surrendered four runs -- three earned -- on eight hits in six innings to take the loss, Detroit's first in five games.
The Tigers took an early lead in their second at-bat, as Miguel Cabrera raced home from third on Brennan Boesch's grounder to first and scored standing up when Kurt Suzuki couldn't handle Daric Barton's low throw.
The lead was short-lived, as Oakland went ahead with three straight doubles to open the fourth inning. David DeJesus led off with a two-bagger and scored on Josh Willingham's dribbler down the third-base line.
Matsui followed with a double to right field for a 2-1 lead, then scored on Suzuki's base hit to left.
Oakland added another run on doubles from Kevin Kouzmanoff and Coco Crisp in the sixth.
Pinch-hitter Ryan Sweeney added an RBI triple off Enrique Gonzalez in the eighth, then scored on a Kouzmanoff sac fly for a 6-1 lead.
Fuentes relieved Balfour with two on and no outs in the ninth, and limited the damage to Austin Jackson's run-scoring fielder's choice grounder.
Game Notes
The A's came into the series with wins in four of five games, but they were shut out, 3-0, in the opener and lost in 10 innings, 8-4, on Friday...Victor Martinez had two of Detroit's six hits...Tigers outfielder Magglio Ordonez returned from a four-game absence (ankle) and went 1-for-4...DeJesus and Matsui each had two hits.