Tigers down A's 6-0, move on to ALCS

Detroit Tigers head to AL Championship Series after defeating Oakland A's 3 games to 2 in ALDS

OAKLAND – The Detroit Tigers are going to the 2012 American League Championship Series after downing the Oakland Athletics 6-0 Thursday night.

The Tigers will face either the New York Yankees or Baltimore Orioles who play Game 5 of their American League division series on Friday night.

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Recap of Game 5:

PITCHING MATCHUP: Tigers RH Justin Verlander (1-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. Athletics RH Jarrod Parker (0-1, 2.84)

1st inning:

Austin Jackson flew out. Quintin Berry hit one to deep left center for a 1-out double. Miguel Cabrera grounded out. Prince Fielder also grounded out to end the side.

Verlander struck out Wednesday night's hero Coco Crisp. Stephen Drew also struck out. Yoenis Cespedes got a 2--out double but Verlander got out of the inning by getting Seth Smith to ground out.

Score: Tigers 0, Athletics 0

2nd inning:

Delmon Young's foul pop fly was caught for the 1st out. Andy Dirks got to 1st on a grounder to 2nd base. He beat the throw. Jhonny Peralta was out on a fly ball. Dirks then stole 2nd on a pitch to Alex Avila. Avila then struck out, stranding Dirks at 2nd.

Josh Reddick struck out -- Verlander's 3rd K. Josh Donaldson popped up. Brandon Moss walked with two outs. Moss was then thrown out trying to steal second base.

Score: Tigers 0, Athletics 0

3rd inning:

Omar Infante led off with a base hit. Austin Jackson hit an RBI double to put the Tigers up 1-0. Berry got Jackson to 3rd base on a sacrifice. Jackson scored on a wild pitch to Cabrera. Cabrera then popped up. Fielder struck out to end the side.

Verlander started the bottom of the 3rd inning with another K. Pennington then grounded out. Crisp was out to end the inning.

Score: Tigers 2, Athletics 0

4th inning:

Delmon Young struck out. Andy Dirks flew out. Peralta grounded out to end the side.

Verlander got his 5th K against Drew. Cespedes lined out to Jackson. Verlander then struck out Donaldson to end the inning.

Score: Tigers 2, Athletics 0

5th inning:

Infante gets on base. Avila grounded out. Infante stole 2nd before Jackson struck out. Berry's foul fly ball was caught to end the inning.

Jackson caught Reddick's fly ball to deep center. Donaldson flew out. Moss hit a 2-out single. Verlander gets out of inning by striking out Norris.

Score: Tigers 2, Athletics 0

6th inning:

Cabrera can't get on base. Fielder popped up for the 2nd out. Delmon Young got on base with two outs. Dirks popped up, stranding Young.

Pennington was the first out, then Crisp grounded out. Verlander was cruising along and got his 8th K against Drew to end the inning.

Score: Tigers 2, Athletics 0

7th inning:

Peralta singled with a shot to third base which Donaldson could not collect. Peralta then stole 2nd base easily. Parker then struck out Avila -- his 6th K of the night. Infante lined it to center for a base hit. Peralta moved to 3rd base. Runners were at 1st and 3rd with Jackson up to bat. Jackson lined to center for a base hit. Peralta scored. Infante moved to 3rd. Runners were at 1st and 3rd again with just one out. Dirks walked to load the bases with one out. Cabrera got hit by a pitch to walk in the run. LH pitcher Jerry Blevins came in to relieve Parker. Prince Fielder hit a shallow one to center to score a run. Delmon Young got another base hit to make it 6-0. Dirks grounded to 2nd and the throw went home for the 2nd out. A Peralta blooper to center would finally end the side. The Tigers blew the game open with four runs.

Cespedes popped up in foul territory and Fielder grabbed it for the 1st out. Smith did nothing and Verlander got another K -- his 10th -- against Reddick to end the inning.

Score: Tigers 6, Athletics 0

8th inning:

Avila struck out to begin the inning. RH pitcher Evan Scribner struck out Infante, too. Austin Jackson popped up to end the side.

Donaldson got a base hit but Moss flew out to center. Jonny Gomes entered the game with a runner on 1st and 1 out. Verlander popped him up for out No. 2. Pennington singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. Crisp grounded out to end the inning, stranding two runners.

Score: Tigers 6, Athletics 0

9th inning:

Quintin Berry struck out swinging to begin the inning. Scribner retired his 5th-straight batter by popping up Cabrera. Fielder grounded out to end the side.

Verlander remained on the mound in the bottom of the 9th inning. He struck out Drew for the 4th time. Cespedes grounded out to short.

Score: Tigers 6, Athletics 0