October 18, 2012: Tigers 5 A's 4 (Tigers win ALCS, 4-1)

A team that had a losing record during the regular season is going to the World Series for the first time ever, as the Detroit Tigers finish off the Oakland A's in 5 games. The game started out catastrophic for the A's and their starter Tommy Milone. Tigers leadoff hitter Austin Jackson reached on an error from A's RF Josh Reddick, then Omar Infante singled and Milone issued walks to Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, the 2nd pushing across Jackson. Delmon Young then delivered the death blow, a bases-clearing blast that put the Tigers up 5-0 and Milone out of the game. The A's bullpen did their part, and Reddick atoned for his error with a 2-run homer in the 6th and a 2-run single in the 8th, but the A's rally was shut down when Joaquin Benoit got Yoenis Cespedes to ground into a double play to end the 8th. The A's went quietly in the 9th.

The Tigers were the AL Champion in real life as well, getting swept by the Giants in the World Series.

The series MVP is Cabrera, who hit .438 for the series and hit 3 HR with 7 RBI. He also led the team with 5 runs scored.

The extra days off will line up Justin Verlander for a game 1 start in either Arizona or Philadelphia.

BOXSCORE: 2012 Detroit Tigers At 2012 Oakland Athletics            10/18/2012
 
  Tigers             AB  R  H RBI AVG     Athletics          AB  R  H RBI AVG
  A.Jackson CF        4  1  0  0 .295     C.Crisp CF          3  1  0  0 .263  
  O.Infante 2B        5  1  1  0 .225     S.Drew SS           4  0  1  0 .257  
  M.Cabrera 3B        4  1  1  0 .294     J.Reddick RF        4  1  2  4 .231  
F-D.Kelly 3B          0  0  0  0 ----     Y.Cespedes LF       3  0  0  0 .158  
  P.Fielder 1B        3  1  0  1 .184     B.Moss 1B           4  0  0  0 .184  
  D.Young DH          3  1  1  4 .162     J.Donaldson 3B      4  0  1  0 .189  
  J.Peralta SS        3  0  0  0 .235     S.Smith DH          4  0  0  0 .280  
  A.Dirks LF          4  0  1  0 .378     J.Weeks 2B          2  0  0  0 .000  
  A.Garcia RF         3  0  1  0 .471   B-D.Barton PH         0  1  0  0 ----  
A-Q.Berry RF          0  0  0  0 .350   D-G.Kottaras C        0  0  0  0 .118  
  G.Laird C           4  0  0  0 .200     D.Norris C          2  0  0  0 .167  
                                        C-J.Gomes PH          0  1  0  0 .286  
                                        E-C.Pennington 2B     0  0  0  0 .240  
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      
         Totals      33  5  5  5                 Totals      30  4  4  4
 
A-Subbed Defensively (RF) For Garcia In 8th Inning
B-Pinch Hit For Weeks In 8th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Norris In 8th Inning
D-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Barton In 9th Inning
E-Subbed Defensively (2B) For Gomes In 9th Inning
F-Subbed Defensively (3B) For Cabrera In 9th Inning
 
Tigers.......... 5 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  -  5  5  0
Athletics....... 0 0 0  0 0 2  0 2 0  -  4  4  1
 
Tigers (7-3)             IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA
D.Fister WIN(3-0)         7       2   4   4   4   4   1  94   3.43
P.Coke HOLD(1st)          0 1/3   2   0   0   0   1   0   8   0.00
J.Benoit HOLD(3rd)        0 2/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   1   4.15
J.Valverde SAVE(3rd)      1       0   0   0   0   1   0  10   3.86
Totals                    9       4   4   4   4   6   1
 
Athletics (5-5)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA
T.Milone LOSS(0-2)        0       2   5   4   2   0   1  22  19.89
J.Miller                  3       0   0   0   3   4   0  41   1.35
P.Neshek                  3       0   0   0   2   6   0  47   0.00
P.Figueroa                1       2   0   0   1   0   0  23   0.00
E.Scribner                2       1   0   0   0   3   0  24   5.79
Totals                    9       5   5   4   8  13   1
 
ATTENDANCE- 33,557 DATE- Thursday, October 18th 2012 TIME- Night WEATHER- Average
UMPIRES- Laz Diaz, Mike Everitt, Paul Schrieber, Tim Welke
T- 2:53
LEFT ON BASE- Tigers: 9  Athletics: 3
DOUBLE PLAYS- Tigers: 1  Athletics: 0
ERRORS- J.Reddick
HOME RUNS- D.Young(3rd), J.Reddick(2nd)
RBIs- P.Fielder(4th), D.Young-4(9th), J.Reddick-4(9th)
WALKS- A.Jackson, M.Cabrera, P.Fielder-2, D.Young-2, J.Peralta, A.Garcia,
       C.Crisp, Y.Cespedes, D.Barton, J.Gomes
STRIKE OUTS- A.Jackson-2, O.Infante, M.Cabrera-2, D.Young, J.Peralta-3,
             A.Dirks-2, A.Garcia, G.Laird, C.Crisp, J.Reddick, B.Moss,
             J.Donaldson-2, S.Smith
GIDP- Y.Cespedes
2-out RBI- J.Reddick-2
RLISP 2-out- A.Dirks, M.Cabrera, O.Infante-2
 
The Detroit Tigers and the Oakland Athletics locked up in an exciting one-run
game at O.co Coliseum.  The final score was the Detroit Tigers 5, the Oakland
Athletics 4.
 
Detroit delivered all the runs required in the 1st inning as they scored 5
runs on 2 base hits.  That scoring would be all that was needed.  Detroit had
only 5 hits for the night.  
 
The win was credited to Doug Fister(3-0) who went 7 innings allowing 4 runs.
Jose Valverde preserved the game for Fister, recording his his 3rd save.
Tommy Milone(0-2) was hit with the loss.