The Oakland Athletics cruised to victory Tuesday night after defeating the Detroit Tigers 2-0, staying alive in the ALDS series thanks to their pitching.
Brett Anderson, the only non-rookie to make a start for the Athletics in the month of September, shutdown the Tigers over six innings allowing just two hits, two walks and finished with six strikeouts.
The only time he ran into any trouble was on a line drive shot from Prince Fielder that was close to clearing the wall, but the speedy Coco Crisp made an amazing play, robbing the slugger of a solo home run.
Crisp made up for the pivotal Game 2 error that cost the A's a win.
Yoenis Cespedes proved clutch early in the game with a ground ball single to center that plated Crisp, giving Anderson a 1-run cushion to work with.
Then in the bottom of the fifth Seth Smith smacked one over the center field wall to give the A's a 2-0 lead, which was more than enough.
The A's bullpen threw three shutout innings between Ryan Cook, Sean Doolittle and Grant Balfour. Doolittle pitched the eighth and shutdown the Tigers' offense striking out the side.
Balfour came in for the save and was asked to keep Miguel Cabrera and Fielder on lock. He struckout Omar Infante, but then gave up a hit to Cabrera. Balfour then induced game ending double play from Fielder's bat.
With the win the A's remain alive along with their bay side NL West counterparts, San Francisco Giants who scraped out a win and pushed it to Game 4 against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Game 4 pitching matchup will be A.J. Griffin of the A's against Max Scherzer of the Tigers.
