Athletics 14, Tigers 4: Brandon Moss belted two homers and recorded a career-high six RBIs to spark a 21-hit attack as Oakland’s offense continued to roll in Detroit.
Seven Athletics recorded at least two hits and one RBI for Oakland, which has scored 28 runs while taking the first three of a four-game set. The Athletics remained 2 1/2 games behind Texas in the American League West and increased their lead to four games over Cleveland for the second wild-card spot.
Dan Straily (7-7) scattered eight hits – allowing a third-inning solo shot to Torii Hunter - to snap a personal five-game losing streak. Doug Fister (11-7) was pounded for season highs in runs (seven) and hits (13) over five frames to send Detroit – which has a 5 1/2-game advantage over Cleveland in the AL Central – to its fifth home loss in six tries.
The Athletics jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after Eric Sogard and Kurt Suzuki capped a stretch of five straight hits to lead off the second with back-to-back RBI singles and Josh Donaldson added a sacrifice fly. Fister appeared to recover with two scoreless innings, but Moss, Yoenis Cespedes, Alberto Callaspo and Eric Sogard all delivered run-scoring hits in the fifth to break the game open.
Moss turned the game into a laugher with a two-run shot off Jose Alvarez in the sixth and added a three-run blast off Drew Smyly in the eighth. Brett Anderson yielded three runs in the eighth, but worked the final three innings for his first career save.
GAME NOTEBOOK: With his single in the third inning, Detroit 3B Miguel Cabrera has reached base safely in 31 straight games and in 120 of 125 games overall this season. … With his 4-for-5 effort, Moss is batting 12-for-29 with six homers and 12 RBIs over his last nine games. … The Athletics improved to 16-5 in games in which Moss has homered and 32-9 in such contests over the past two seasons.
Oakland | Detroit | |
Daniel Straily | Player | Doug Fister |
Win | W/L | Loss |
6.0 | IP | 5.0 |
4 | Strikeouts | 2 |
8 | Hits | 13 |
1.50 | ERA | 12.60 |
Oakland | Detroit | |
Brandon Moss | Player | Victor Martinez |
4 | Hits | 3 |
6 | RBI | 0 |
2 | HR | 0 |
11 | TB | 3 |
.800 | Avg | .750 |