Those Swingin’ A’s take 2 of 3 from Motown

GAME 1 – A’s 7, Tigers 3 – Tiger Stadium – Detroit, MI

Lew Krausse (2-0, 5.50) qualified for the “quality start” (3 in 6), while Billy Hoeft (0-3, 6.16) who gave up 7 in 8 innings, most assuredly did not.  Oakland was up 3-0 when Detroit tied it with 3 off of Krausse in the bottom of the 6th.  A 4 run 7th put it away for the A’s.  After Sal Bando and Rick Monday singled Mike Hershberger tripled them both in.  Catcher, Phil Roof singled home Hershberger.  Krausse was kept in the game to bunt Roof over to second, which he executed to perfection, and with 2 out John Donaldson lined a shot to the opposite field to score Roof.  Al Kaline it a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 3, but Sprague and Aker combined to hold down the fort with the latter gaining his first save of the campaign.

GAME 2 – Tigers 9, A’s 2 – Tiger Stadium – Detroit, MI

In a battle of HOF starters Jim Bunning (2-3, 2.25) dominated  Jim “Catfish” Hunter (3-3, 2.06).  Hunter was gone after 6 with a subpar effort (4 ER), while Bunning went the distance and fanned 6 and gave up 2 runs.  With the score 5-2 Detroit, the Tigers exploded for 4 runs in the 8th off of relievers Jack Aker and Warren Bogle.  Bunning was also the hitting star in the contest, going 3-4 with 4 RBI.

GAME 3– A’s 2, Tigers 0 – Oakland Coliseum – OAK, CA

Jim Nash (2-3, 4.73) finally got found his mojo after some very poor outings.  Nash went the distance and scattered 8 hits for the shutout.  Duke Maas went the distance for the Tigers and had a pretty good day himself, but received little or know offensive support.  He allowed 2 runs (1 ER) on 5 hits.  Rick Monday had 3 of those 5 hits going 3 for 3.  The bottom of Oakland’s lineup (Gosger/Duncan) supplied all of the hits for the A’s.  In the 2nd inning Dave Duncan singled home Monday.  In the 7th the A’s supplied Nash with the most needed insurance run when Sal Bando reached first on an error at third by Ray Boone.  Monday singled him over to third and Jim Gosger lifted a sac fly to left to make it 2-0.  Detroit’s one big chance to score was in the 6th when Boone and Kaline singled with 1 out and Jim Finigan singled with 2 outs, but Boone was pegged at the plate by Gosger who shares equal billing for star of the game with Nash.