Oakland Athletics: Detroit Tigers Series Recap, Analysis and Roster Moves

Series Recap

The Athletics' four games with the Detroit Tigers seemed much more like a pair of two-game series.

The A's offense in the first two games was nearly nonexistent. Despite a strong pitching performance in the opener from Gio Gonzalez, the A's could not score off Tigers' starter Phil Coke, and the A's fell 3-0.

Game two saw the A's carry a 1-0 lead into the ninth inning, but a home run from Miguel Cabrera sent the game into extra innings. A woeful 10th inning saw the A's commit three errors and yield seven runs to the Tigers who went on to win, 8-4.

The series took a turn for the better on Saturday night, as Dallas Braden pitched five solid innings, allowing only a single unearned run. Unfortunately, he was lifted after five innings with shoulder tightness. The bullpen took over and allowed only a single run over the remaining four innings, as the A's went on to win 6-2.

Trevor Cahill followed on Sunday with a marvelous eight innings, giving up one run with nine strikeouts. The A's offense mustered five runs on five hits to see the Tigers off with a 5-1 A's win and a series split.

Roster Moves

Dallas Braden was placed on the 15-day DL on Monday while the A's traded Danny Farquhar back to the Toronto Blue Jays for reliever David Purcey. Farquhar was acquired from the Blue Jays along with Trystan Magnuson earlier this year for Rajai Davis. It appears that Tyson Ross will be in line to take Braden's spot in the rotation, although Bobby Cramer could do so as well.

Offense

The A's Jekyll and Hyde offense continued though the Tigers series. Game one featured only five baserunners and no runs. The A's only managed a single run via a David DeJesus RBI single until the 10th inning in game two, where they scored three meaningless runs in the 8-4 defeat.

In game three the A's smoked the ball (at least by A's standards) and connected on six extra-base hits. In the finale, five hits and five walks led to the A's four-run victory.

DeJesus is hitting well of late, as he batted 5-for-11 in the series, raising his season average to .260.

Defense

Defense is still not strong with the A's. Three errors led to seven runs, four earned, in the 10th inning of Friday's loss. A Daric Barton error led to the Tigers' only run off Dallas Braden on Saturday. The defense did step it up on Sunday with a couple of nice plays by Conor Jackson and Andy LaRoche.

Starting Pitching

The A's starters are keeping the A's relevant in the AL right now. The starters threw 25.2 innings in the series and yielded only two runs, one earned.

Gio Gonzalez pitched six scoreless, and Brandon McCarthy put up zeroes through 6.2 innings. Braden's only blemish was the aforementioned unearned run in his five innings, and Cahill by definition had the worst start by allowing a Casper Wells home run, the only earned run of the series off the starters.

Relief Pitching

Relievers were responsible for both A's losses. Ross took the loss on Thursday by giving up a run in the seventh, while Jerry Blevins allowed the Tigers to tack two more on in the eighth. Brian Fuentes blew the Friday save, and with the help of poor defense and Brad Ziegler, the A's bullpen allowed eight runs in the final two innings.

The bullpen did pitch effectively on Saturday, as they preserved the win for Braden by allowing only a single run, and they only needed a ninth inning from Tyson Ross on Sunday for the A's victory.

Managing

Geren made a few questionable decisions regarding his bullpen on Friday. It would have been prudent to leave Grant Balfour in to face Miguel Cabrera in the ninth. But Geren opted to go with Fuentes and the rest is history. I am pleased he allowed Cahill to pitch through eight despite his pitch count, though the A's were in no danger of losing on Sunday.

The A's were two completely different teams against the Tigers. If they can find their offense more frequently and get steadier work from the defense and bullpen, the starters should stay strong despite the injury to Braden. Ross seems like he will be a more than adequate fill-in, and hopefully he will only be needed for a few starts before Dallas returns.

Up next are the Boston Red Sox and then a road trip to Seattle and Los Angeles—ahem, Anaheim.