Tigers nip A's in Game 2 thriller: Quick hits

The Tigers took a commanding 2-0 lead in their ALDS match-up with the A's, but it didn't come easily.

By Dayn Perry

Oct 7, 2012 at 3:43 pm ET • 2 min read

In Game 2, Miguel Cabrera hit like ... Miguel Cabrera. (US Presswire)

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The Tigers took a crazy one by the score of 5-4. Seven of those runs were scored after the sixth inning, and now the A's find themselves one loss from elimination.

Hero: At the plate, Miguel Cabrera wasn't his usual authoritative self at times, and he made a bad throw in the field. But there's this reality: 3-for-5, two doubles, two runs scored. He also sorta-kinda induced a key error on the part of Coco Crisp when he dumped one in the hinterlands of shallow-center (more on that in a moment). Cabrera's clutch single in the ninth set up the winning run. The likely AL MVP was the MVP on this day.

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Goat: It's Crisp because sometimes a single play is the defining one. Two on, two outs in the home half of the seventh, Cabrera at the plate, Sean Doolittle attacking him from the opposite side (curious decision to leave Doolittle in against perhaps the best right-handed hitter in baseball, but that's another subject) … Cabrera pops it up to shallow center, and Crisp gets an uncharacteristic late break on the ball. He gets there in time to attempt a basket catch, bobbles the ball and just misses a diving attempt to reel it in. Two runs score. They proved to be critical.

Turning point: The A's brought on their closer to face the top of the order in the ninth, and it was Omar Infante's single that ensured Cabrera, the freshly minted triple-crown winner, would come to the plate with a runner on base. Cabrera responded with a single of his own and, after an IBB, Don Kelly lofted the game-winning sac fly.

It was over when: This was a hotly fought, back-and-forth affair all day. It was over when the ball leapt off Kelly's bat in the bottom of the ninth. Until that point, the outcome was in doubt.

Next: The series shifts to Oakland for the rest of the way. Obviously, the A's find themselves on the brink of elimination. Game 3 is at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday: Anibal Sanchez against, most likely, Brett Anderson.