Oakland Athletics defeat Detroit Tigers 7-5 to tie series – MLB Update
The Oakland Athletics overpowered the Detroit Tigers 7-5 in the second and the last game of the series at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan on Wednesday, July 20.
In a close competition played in front of a large crowd, Hideki Matsui not only marked his 500th home-run but also took his team to their 43rd win of the season. It was his 168th Major League home-runs he already has 332
homers in the Japanese League that made his 500 home-runs combine in MLB and Japanese League career.
After two runs in the top of the third by the A’s and same amount of runs by Tigers in the bottom half of the inning, the Japanese native Matsui launched a devastating one-run homer to take his team into a 3-2 leading position.
"I'm happy to get it over with, and it is even better that it helped us win a game," Matsui said through an interpreter. "It isn't like I've been aiming for this, because I don't really combine numbers from Japan and here. To me, they are two separate leagues."
Tigers’ Victor Martinez scored an RBI double to take the game back into his side and Don Kelly scored an RBI double to widen the lead to 5-3. However, the A’s Cliff Pennington singled to shallow right-field, allowing Landon Powell to score fourth run to
cut short the lead to 5-4. Josh Willingham tied the game at 5-all with his sacrifice fly to right-field in the seventh inning.
Matsui added another single to take his team again into leading position. His run marked a 6-5 lead for the A’s and Conor Jackson scored an RBI single to set 7-5 strong lead in the later half of the game.
The A’s starter Brandon McCarthy allowed four runs on six hits, walked one and struck-out four batters over five innings. Joey Devine permitted one-run two hits over one innings. Brad Ziegler, Carlos Breslow, Grant Balfour and Andrew Bailey remained scoreless
to write a confirm win for his club.
"It's great to see him get it, because the guys have been teasing him about taking so long," said McCarthy. "We needed all his hits today to win this game."
Tigers’ starter Duane Below allowed three runs, one earned run and walked two batters over five innings. He also struck-out two batters and allowed a homer. Lester Oliveros did not yield any run but David Purcey scattered three runs on his 16 pitches. Joaquin
Benoit allowed one run on three hits over one inning. Closer Charlie Furbush did not allow any run over two innings.
After losing this game, the Tigers go back home to take on the Minnesota Twins in the first game of the three-game series, at Target field.
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