Oakland Athletics players celebrate their 8-3 win against the Detroit Tigers after a baseball game in Detroit, Monday, Sept. 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

by Jerry Feitelberg

Detroit- The Oakland A’s, who have had massive problems winning on the road, beat the Detroit Tigers 8-3 Monday night. The A’s offense continued to batter the opposition as the young guys with some help from the veterans Matt Joyce, and Jed Lowrie jumped out to an early lead, and the A’s bullpen did its job to defeat the Tigers. The Tigers are having a down year. Their pitching has been woeful, and they have traded away stalwarts J.D.Martinez, Justin Upton, and ace pitcher Justin Verlander. Victor Martinez is done for the year and superstar Miguel Cabrera is having an off-year due to injuries and getting older.

Jharel Cotton was supposed to start for Oakland on Monday. Cotton suffered a right groin strain warming up before the start of the game.  A’s manager Bob Melvin sent Raul Alcantara to the hill. The plan was to let him throw about 60 pitches and then use the bullpen. Alcantara did a great job as he went three and 2/3rds innings and allowed just two hits and no runs. Melvin used five pitchers the rest of the way.

The A’s jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. Marcus Semien led off the game with a single.  With one out, Jed Lowrie doubled to left-center. Semien was running on the pitch and was able to score all the way from first base.

The A’s plated four runs in the top of the third. The Tigers’ starter, Buck Farmer, hit Semien with a pitch. Matt Joyce singled to put men on at first and third with no out. Jed Lowrie hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Semien. The big first baseman, Matt Olson, continued his hot hitting as he blasted his 22nd homer in just 54 games. Ryon Healy reached on an error, and he scored on a double off the bat of Chad Pinder. The A’s lead 5-0.

The A’s added two more runs in the fourth. The A’s loaded the bases with no out, Lowrie walked to force in a run. The other run scored when Khris Davis hit into a double play.

The Tigers tallied two in the bottom of the fifth and one in their half of the seventh to make it a 7-3 game. The A’s finished their scoring in the eighth when they scored their final run of the game. The A’s won by a score of 8-3.

Game Notes- Liam Hendriks, the A’s third pitcher of the night, received credit for the win. Buck Farmer took the loss for Detroit. Marcus Semien had two hits, Matt Joyce was 3-for-6, Matt Olson has now hit homers in his last four games in a row and in eleven of his last fifteen games. He has twenty-two for the season in just 54 games. Quite a performance for the young man. Chad Pinder had two hits and two RBIs.

Game two of the three-game series will be played Tuesday night at Comerica Park in Detroit. Game time is at 4:05pm. Daniel Gosset (4-9) will pitch for Oakland. Gossett will be making his sixteenth start for the A’s and has been pitching better lately. Chad Bell (0-3, 6.42 ERA) has not completed five innings in his three starts since moving from long relief into the rotation. In his last start, Bell gave up six runs and nine hits in just 3 1/3rd inning of work against the White Sox last Thursday.