Tigers edge A's to reach brink of playoff win

Detroit's Don Kelly hit a sacrifice fly to score Omar Infante with the winning run as the Tigers beat Oakland 5-4 on Sunday to seize command of their Major League Baseball playoff series. The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five American League matchup with game three on Tuesday in Oakland. The series winner will face either Baltimore or the New York Yankees to decide a berth in the World Series final. Australian right-handed relief pitcher Grant Balfour, who retired the last 26 batters he faced in the regular season, entered for Oakland in the ninth inning to face the best Detroit batters with the game deadlocked at 4-4. With one out, Infante singled and reached third base on a Miguel Cabrera single. The A's then decided to intentionally walk star slugger Prince Fielder, setting up an inning-ending double play possibility. Instead, Kelly smacked a long sacrifice fly out to right field. Once the ball was grabbed, Infante tagged up and raced home with the winning run. "It's unbelievable," Kelly said. "I was just trying to get a pitch to hit. It was a great opportunity." By taking advantage, the Tigers are on the brink of advancing to the American League championship series. "To go up 2-0 in front of our home fans is huge," Kelly said. "It's easier to win one out west than to have to win two." Oakland took a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning when Seth Smith walked, reached second base on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a single up the middle by Cliff Pennington. But the Tigers jumped ahead 3-2 in the seventh after singles from Austin Jackson and Infante and a fielding blunder by Oakland centerfielder Coco Crisp. Crisp tried a basket-style catch as he ran toward a fly ball hit by Cabrera, but the ball popped out of his glove and into the air. The ball fell into the fingertips of Crisp's glove but squirted out of his grasp as he tried to close his glove around it, falling to the ground and allowing Jackson and Infante to score to give the Tigers the lead. The A's reclaimed the lead at 4-3 in the eighth inning after a wild pitch by Detroit relief pitcher Joaquin Benoit allowed Yoenis Cespedes to score from third base and Josh Reddick followed with a solo homer to rightfield. But the Tigers equalized at 4-4 when they came to bat in the eighth when a wild pitch by Oakland reliever Ryan Cook allowed Kelly to score from third, setting the stage for Kelly's heroics in the ninth. Oakland opened the scoring in the third inning when Cespedes singled in a run. Brandon Ross followed with a single to rightfield but Crisp was tagged out after a throw to home plate, keeping the A's to a 1-0 lead. The Tigers answered later in the third inning thanks to Cabrera, who won the first batting 'Triple Crown' since 1967 by sweeping this year's batting average, runs batted in and home run titles. Cabrera doubled, advanced to third on a Fielder single and scored on a ground out to first base by Delmon Young to pull Detroit level at 1-1. When 25-year-old left-hander Tommy Milone took the mound for Oakland, the A's became the first club in major league history to start rookie pitchers in the opening two games of a playoff series. Jarrod Parker, one of 12 rookies on Oakland's playoff roster, took the loss in game one.