A's and Tigers split

GAME 1 - Oakland Coliseum

Galarraga vs Byrd

Tigers 6, A's 1

A 3 run blast by Juan Encarnacion in the top of the 7th broke this game open for the Tigers, who were nursing a 3-1 lead to this point.  Armando Galarraga (3-1, 2.38) did a fine job giving up just 1 in 7 innings.  Harry Byrd went the distance taking one for the team while giving up 13 hits and 6 runs.

GAME 2

Fidrych vs Nash

Tigers 6, A's 3d

A strong performance by Mark "The Bird" Fidrych (5-4, 2.90) helped the Tigers play road warrior spoiler for the second night in a row.  Tony Clark (3-4) had half of Detroit's hits.  Jim Nash (5 runs in 4 innings) once again disappointed on the hill for the A's.

GAME 3 - Tiger Stadium

J.Parker vs Verlander

A's 8, Tigers 7

Jarred Parker lasted just 2/3 of an inning as the Tigers victimized him for 3 runs.  Oakland found themselves down 6-1 after 5 innings with their pennant hopes fast fading.  Some late inning heroics, including a huge 5 run 8th put the A's back in a game they should never have been in.  Oakland hit 3 long balls in the 8th.  Mitchell Page led off with a solo blast.  Terry "grapes of wrath" Steinbach hit a 3 run shot with 2 outs that was aided by an untimely error at the hot corner by HoJo.  Scott Spiezio capped it off with a solo blast to put the A's up for good.  Credit Tony Pierce with the save with a perfect 9th inning.  Rollie Fingers (1-2, 6.43), who is usually the mop up man got the unexpected win.

GAME 4

T.Hudson vs Lary

A's 3, Tigers 0

Once again the home team went down to defeat.  Tim Hudson was brilliant in his six shutout innings.  Once he hit the magical 100 pitch plateau he was replaced.  Bob Lacey (7th), Joey Devine (8th) and Andrew Bailey (9th) protected Hudson's handiwork.  Terry Steinbach, who pushed his average above the Mendoza line, hit a homer for the second consecutive day.  Ben Grieve and Ed "the Glider" Charles each had 2 hit days, as the bottom of Oakland's order did all the damage.