The improbable season for the Oakland Athletics continues.
Facing elimination in Game 3, the Athletics shut down the Detroit Tigers 2-0 on Tuesday night in front of their home fans to keep the hope in the Bay Area alive. Another Bay area team, the San Francisco Giants, did the same on Tuesday, keeping the Reds from sweeping with a 2-1 win in 10 innings.
The Athletics used a fantastic pitching performance from Brett Anderson and some timely hitting to stave off elimination from the playoffs.
Anderson lasted for six innings and gave up only two hits. Oakland made a range of excellent defensive plays, including Coco Crisp on a deep ball by Detroit's Prince Fielder that easily could have been a home run in the second.
"You see him hit it and you just kind of put your head down a little bit because you think you just gave up a homer," Anderson said to the Associated Press. "Then you see him plow through there and catch the ball and it kind of kick-starts you to go out there and make pitches."
Crisp made an error in Oakland's Game 2 loss and helped make up for it by robbing Fielder. The missed run would end up being crucial for the Athletics, who were able to score just two runs. But it was enough to win.
"Not to be all overconfident or anything, I think I'm going to catch everything out there," Crisp said. "Obviously, it doesn't happen that way -- duh, Detroit, right?"
Anderson was pitching for the first time since mid-September after suffering a strained muscle injury.
"I don't know how you could expect more than we got out of him tonight," A's manager Bob Melvin said.
Oakland took the lead on an RBI single from Yoenis Cespedes and added another run on a solo home run from outfielder Seth Smith in the fifth inning.
The chance of elimination didn't faze the Oakland Athletics one bit. It doesn't seem that anything can faze the team this season.
Predicted to finish at the bottom of the American League, the Athletics were one of the best teams in baseball during the second half of the season. The team made a historic comeback from five games behind the Texas Rangers with nine games to go to win the American League West division.
According to ESPN.com, the team also had a league-best 14 walk off wins this season.
Detroit couldn't get anything done on offense during the game and the defensive play by the Athletics only added to the frustration.
"Coco's catch, the ball was out of the ballpark and it came back," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "The key to that play was he was playing deep and that enabled him to get into a spot to get up and make the catch. And it was a great catch, no doubt about it."
Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez, who the team traded for at the trading deadline, was solid in his first career playoff start, lasting 6.1 innings and striking out three while giving up five hits.
Detroit dealt with its own expectations this season, except people expected the team to win. They overtook the Chicago White Sox in September and haven't looked back. But with a win in Game 3, hope has come back to the Athletics.
According to ESPN.com, the Athletics have baseballs lowest payroll at $59.5 million, while one player on the Tigers (Fielder), is signed to a $214 million deal. The juxtaposition of the two is just another interesting wrinkle in this AL division series.
"It's frustrating. But it's a good team you're playing," Fielder said. "They're going to make those plays, that's why they're here."
The Oakland bullpen was stellar in relief of Anderson, allowing just two hits in three innings of work. Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle had four strikeouts before Grant Balfour came in and closed the game for his first save of the playoffs.
"That's how you win postseason baseball games, with pitching and defense and timely hitting," Smith said. "We had that. We got two runs and that's all we needed. Anderson was great and our defense was, too."
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