Keep the champagne on ice for one more night.
Tigers starter Max Scherzer played long ball with the Athletics all night, giving up three home runs in a 6-1 loss that ended a 12-game Detroit winning streak.
The Tigers’ magic number for clinching the American League Central still dropped to one, however, after both Chicago and Cleveland lost on Thursday. Chicago’s loss eliminated them altogether; Cleveland can only lose one more time all season and would need the Tigers to lose their remaining games as well to stay alive.
Scherzer managed to get through five innings, but gave up a three-run homer to David DeJesus with two out in the first inning to stake Oakland to a 3-0 lead. Kurt Suzuki and Cliff Pennington both hit solo shots off Scherzer in the third and fifth innings, respectively.
Delmon Young’s solo homer in the third accounted for the lone Detroit run.