The Oakland A’s right fielder Brent Rooker (25) chases after the baseball hit by the Detroit Tigers Gio Urshela for a double in the bottom of the eighth inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on Fri Apr 5, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The Oakland A’s (1-7) played a hotly contested game against the Detroit Tigers (6-1) coming up just short losing 5-4. Both Zach Gelof and Abraham Toro hit home runs in the losing effort. They went through five pitchers struggling with inconsistency on the mound. JP Sears had a good five opening innings but stumbled in the sixth losing a bit of command.

Game recap: It was a quiet start to the game with no runs scored in the first three innings. In the fourth inning, the Tigers broke the game open scoring three runs. It was a rough inning for Sears who gave up a homer to Matt Vierling followed by a Spencer Torkelson double with Andy Ibanez on base and Detroit took a quick 3-0 lead.

After 22 scoreless innings the A’s Brent Rooker homered with Zack Gelof aboard in the sixth inning trimming the Tiger lead to 3-2 and this game got a lot closer. The Tigers Mark Canha knocked the Tigers second home run of the game out of the park extending Detroit’s lead to 4-2. Oakland was forced to pull pitcher JP Sears who not only gave up the two homers but also six hits. Austin Adams took his place on the mound.

In the top of the 7th inning Tiger pitcher Tarik Skubal gave up the long ball a one run home run from Oakland’s Abraham Toro, his first of the season. The A’s were within one run of a tie with the Tigers 4-3 and this would initiate a pitching change for Detroit.

Will Vest would take over on the mound for the Tigers. Oakland went to work putting runners on second and third with one out. The A’s tied up this game 4-4 when Nick Allen grounded out to second and JJ Bleday scored.

Oakland’s Dany Jimenez pitched the seventh inning trying to pin down the strike zone. He found himself in back to back full counts followed by walks. With Tiger runners on first and second Jimenez was out and T. J. McFarland would come in and try to get out of the inning unscathed. Detroit’s Kerry Carpenter hit into a double play and Oakland had gotten out of the inning with the game remaining tied 4-4.

Spencer Torkolsen doubled trying to put a productive bottom of the eighth inning together for the Tigers. Lucas Erceg had taken the mound for Oakland the fifth pitcher for the A’s this afternoon. An RBI double from Gio Urshela broke the tie driving Torkolsen home and giving the Tigers a 5-4 lead.

Oakland started off the ninth inning with an Abraham Toro walk. Brian Noda would take first base also on a walk and the A’s had two runners on. Detroit’s Alex Lange would take the mound looking for the final out and the win. He struck out Zach Gelof and that was the ball game 5-4. Oakland had lost their 3rd one run game of the season.

Game notes: Friday afternoon the A’s traveled to Detroit to take on the Tigers in a three game series. The A’s have been struggling offensively while the Tigers have had an excellent start this year only dropping a single game in this young season.

The A’s went into this game without a single run in 17 innings and would be looking to get going on the offensive side. They sent JP Sears to the mound for this game. Sears couldn’t limit the Tiger offense and let his defense clean up any Detroit hits.

This was a tightly contested game but the A’s came up just short. Oakland is struggling on the mound with some real inconsistent pitching. They will take on the Tigers in game two tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 10:10 AM. Paul Blackburn will take the mound for Oakland and for the Tigers Kenta Maeda will get the nod.