Brandon Inge and Ivan Rodriguez homered to knock Oakland ace Barry Zito out of the game, and the Detroit Tigers rolled to a 5-0 lead over the Athletics after six innings in Game 1 of the AL championship series Tuesday night.
Inge had three hits, including a run-scoring double during the rally that chased Zito, who retired Detroit's first eight batters and then fell apart in the fourth inning of the shortest post-season start of his career.
The Tigers hit a club-record 122 homers on the road during their remarkable resurgent season under new manager Jim Leyland, and their bats were lively again after hitting six while knocking off the New York Yankees in the first round's biggest upset.
Nate Robertson pitched five scoreless innings for the Tigers despite allowing baserunners in every frame while yielding six hits and three walks. Detroit turned three double plays in his five innings and finished another inning on a groundout with the bases loaded _ and Robertson struck out three straight hitters with two Oakland runners on in the fourth.
The A's went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position over the first five innings, extending their similar situational slump in the division series. Oakland never trailed in its three-game sweep of Minnesota, but faced a steep deficit in its first ALCS game since 1992.
Oakland reached three straight World Series from 1988-90, but failed to get out of the first round in four straight playoff trips from 2000-03.
Zito left to polite cheers, but the veteran left-hander _ who's expected to leave the AL West champions as a free agent after the season _ lost his command and confidence in a 38-pitch third inning in his seventh career post-season start.
Zito was dominant until Inge, the catcher-turned-third baseman who bats ninth, pulled a 2-1 pitch over the 330-foot sign on the left-field line for the game's first run and the Tigers' first hit off Zito.
Eric Chavez, the A's five-time Gold Glove third baseman, then failed to cleanly field Magglio Ordonez's fairly simple grounder with the bases loaded, allowing Granderson to score on a play ruled a hit.
Zito struggled again in the fourth, giving up Rodriguez's fourth career post-season homer to deep center. Marcus Thames reached second base on a throwing error by D'Angelo Jimenez, Oakland's seldom-used substitute for injured second baseman Mark Ellis, and Inge drove him home with a double to right.
Placido Polanco added an RBI single, and A's manager Ken Macha yanked his starter after Sean Casey's single. Zito trudged to the dugout after allowing seven hits and three walks while failing to strike out a batter.
Zito pitched into the sixth inning in each of his previous playoff appearances, including an outstanding eight-inning effort in Oakland's 3-2 victory over Minnesota in the division series opener.
Detroit's dominance over the US$200 million Yankees was nearly as surprising as its run to the post-season after losing 119 games just three years ago _ though the Tigers blew the AL Central title with five straight losses to close the regular season.
Robertson lost the first of those five games and then got pounded by the Yankees in the division series opener, but still started Game 1 in Oakland.
Oakland right-hander Esteban Loaiza will face Justin Verlander in Game 2 in the best-of-seven series Wednesday night at the aging Coliseum, with Game 3 in Detroit's gorgeous downtown ballpark on Friday.
The Coliseum was packed and lively, though the third deck of the stadium and monstrous Mount Davis beyond center field were still covered by tarpaulins in the A's effort to create a more intimate atmosphere _ but the tarps will come off if Oakland makes the World Series.
The series is a rematch of the 1972 ALCS, won in five games by Oakland on the way to the first of three consecutive championships.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
