DETROIT?Tigers reliever Al Alburquerque can play the game with a flair for the dramatic that annoys opponents.
Entering a tie game with runners on the corners and two out in the ninth, he fielded a Yoenis Cespedes grounder, kissed the ball, then underhanded it to Prince Fielder.
?I?ver never seen that before, ever,? Fielder said, laughing out loud. ?I thought it was the coolest thing I?ve ever seen. He just caught it and there was no panic, awesome. Just don?t mess up.?
It got better for the Tigers. In the bottom of the ninth, after Alburquerque?s great escape, they won 5-4 on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by utilityman Don Kelly off Grant Balfour, after Miguel Cabrera had singled and Fielder was walked intentionally to set up a force at the plate.
With the Kelly RBI and the win, the Tigers take a 2-0 lead in the AL Division Series heading to Oakland for the final three games. In an on-field victory scene that will be replayed often, at least in the Motor City, Kelly turned and hoisted the hefty Fielder high off the ground ? not an easy task.
?Everything?s magnified come playoff time,? Kelly said. ?It?s unbelievable to be able to contribute like that. I haven?t changed who I am. I come out, prepare, do what I need to do to be in a moment like that and contribute and help the team win. Just have to keep playing, keep grinding.?
It was a wild, wild Game 2 at Comerica Park, both figuratively and literally. A game-tying run scored from third base on a wild pitch in both the top and bottom half of the eighth inning. First it was Oakland?s Cespedes on a pitch in the dirt by Joaquin Benoit, then pinch-runner Kelly on a ball off the shinguards of George Kottaras to the screen by Ryan Cook. Wild!
These are not your father?s A?s. This is not even Brad Pitt?s Moneyball A?s. Sure, what could have been the winning run in the eighth came on a solo blast to right field by Josh Reddick, but the tying run that set up the blast was a manufactured thing of beauty by the Cuban rookie Cespedes.
He led off the eighth with a single, stole second and then, feeling he was being ignored by Benoit, stole third base standing up. With the tying run on third in a 3-2 game, the infield was forced to play in. Benoit buried a 2-and-2 pitch in the dirt that bounced away from Gerald Laird. The next pitch was slammed over the right-field wall off a clearly discombobulated Benoit.
?When we have the lead in the eighth inning, Benoit is our guy,? manager Jim Leyland said of his struggling setup man, who has surrendered 14 home runs since June. ?The reason he?s our guy is he throws 95 (m.p.h.) with a great changeup that?s very difficult to pick up. We?re not going to change anything now. So it is what it is. If Benoit is fresh and he has the lead, he?s going to be in there.?
Even when Miguel Cabrera?s bat is not producing big hits, he?s a dangerous presence in the lineup. Such was the case in the seventh inning as A?s centre fielder Coco Crisp, playing deep ? respecting the Triple Crown champ?s power ? with two out and two runners on, raced in and booted a Cabrera fly ball.
?He?s an outstanding centre fielder,? Leyland said. ?When I saw the replay, looks like he got his hands in real close to his body, kind of cupped into his body. That can be a tough play to make. He?s been their guy. He?s a heck of a player and that?s the human element of the game.?
Crisp, in a full sprint, jammed himself at the belt buckle on the line drive. The ball popped out of his glove, he swiped at it, then chased it towards the infield as a hustling Omar Infante raced around from first to score the go-ahead run. Earlier, Crisp had also been thrown out at the plate.
If the Tigers have an achilles? heel it?s Cabrera?s glove. The Triple Crown winner was moved across the diamond to third base this year, to make room for the hulking presence and potent bat of Fielder. The move has paid dividends offensively, but cost the Tigers in fielding.
In the third inning, with nobody out and a runner on first, Crisp squibbed a chopper towards third base. Cabrera lumbered over, fielded it cleanly, but his throw pulled Fielder off the bag. Crisp was given a base hit. Cespedes, the A?s MVP, singled home the game?s first run. Right-hander Doug Fister avoided further trouble thanks to a great throw to the plate by right fielder Avisail Garcia, nailing Crisp trying to score from second. Fister pitched seven solid innings.
?The most important thing is that we battled the whole game,? Fister said. ?From the starters to the relievers to the guys that came off the bench, everybody played together.?
The Oakland A?s are finding out that this winning your division thing isn?t all it?s cracked up to be ? although far better than the alternative, as the Jays will tell you.
As a reward for finishing first in the AL West, with the league?s second-best record, they earned the right to fly across three time zones to Comerica Park with one day off. Then, on Sunday, they were greeeted with a noon start time ? which, of course, is 9 a.m. on the West Coast ? and reported to the park three hours earlier than that. No, really, congratulations on winning the division.
Consider if the A?s had lost to the Rangers on Wednesday. Here?s what would have happened: The A?s would have stayed home to host the Orioles in a one-game playoff. If they won that game, they would have stayed home and hosted the Yankees in Games 1 and 2 at the Coliseum. That sounds better.
?We still have our work cut out for us,? Kelly said of the upstart A?s. ?They just beat Texas three in a row at home. We still have to keep playing.?
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