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I don't want to re-live this one, and TRUST ME, neither do you. To sum up a very horrible 9-3 loss, the A's had all the chances in the world to knock around Justin Verlander, and it looked like things were well on their way, as both Coco Crisp and Brandon Moss knocked balls out of the park in the very first inning to stake Jesse Chavez to a 2-0 lead. But notorious A's killer Torii Hunter got to Chavez twice; once in the first and once in the third to single in Detroit's first and second--and tying--run. Meanwhile, the A's stranded the lead-off single in the second (Stephen Vogt), and butchered the third inning all to hell. Coco lead off the inning with a single, and was promptly thrown out stealing in front of the three singles that would follow by Yoenis Cespedes, Brandon Moss, and Derek Norris. You read that right; the A's had four hits in the inning and couldn't score a run, leaving the bases loaded with singles.
They would try again in the sixth, as Moss doubled to start the inning, and Norris singled him to third. How can they possibly screw this up?, you might ask. Your answer: A Vogt pop-up, a Lowrie short pop-fly and after Nate Freiman was hit to load the bases rather than wasting four pitches on an intentional walk to face the A's black hole of the day at second base, Nick Punto, the Tigers got out of it on a fly ball.
Meanwhile, Chavez allowed the Tigers the go-ahead third run in the fourth, and with the score 3-2, finished the fifth inning. Which should have been all he pitched. Unfortunately, he came out to start the sixth, and walked the first two batters before being replaced by Jim Johnson. Normally I'd say something like, "Well, Johnson should have started the inning in the first place", but when you give up six damn runs in a one-run affair in a game that you need to stave off the sweep, you don't get the benefit of the doubt. Two of the runs were charged to Jesse Chavez, and Ryan Cook allowed Johnson's fourth earned run to score, but let's just call a spade a spade, admit to wasting $10 million dollars and have one of you pitch in relief, because I promise you, anyone on AN who played high school or college baseball would have been better than Johnson today. Or really, this season. Because, it's the sixth inning, and the game went from 3-2 to NINE to 2.
The A's scored a run in the seventh on a Crisp single and a Moss single. You know, the would-be-tying run, had the TIgers not dropped six on the A's the previous inning.
End scene.
Detroit continues to be the A's only Achilles, and it's distressing, because they will likely be their playoff match, as well. Not a great week of baseball, but the very best part of the game is that there is one tomorrow. We face off against Toronto at 6:05, see you back here!
