The visiting Oakland Athletics flexed their muscles and powered their way past the Detroit Tigers 6-3 on Monday to take a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five American League Division Series.
Home runs by Josh Reddick, Brandon Moss and Seth Smith moved Oakland within one victory of reaching the League Championship Series for the first time since 2006.
The Tigers erased a 3-0 deficit with three runs in the fourth inning off A’s starter Jarrod Parker on an RBI-double from Victor Martinez and a two-run single by Jhonny Peralta.
The burst snapped a 20-inning scoring drought for Detroit, but the Tigers quickly found themselves trailing again as the A’s re-established a three-run cushion in the next inning with homers from Moss and Smith.
An argument livened up the ninth inning, when Oakland closer Grant Balfour and Detroit designated hitter Victor Martinez exchanged expletives and approached each other threateningly and both benches emptied onto the diamond.
Balfour, who often talks to himself in animated fashion to pump himself up, shouted a curse at Martinez during his lead-off at-bat and Martinez cursed back and the two kept arguing before teammates rushed in and blocked their path.
Balfour eventually retired Martinez on a fly to right on his way to closing out the ninth to register the save for winning pitcher Jarrod Parker.
“He was staring me down, so I said: ‘Why are you staring me down, what is your problem? You got a problem, come out here,’” Balfour said during an on-field interview.
“So he came out and we had a couple of words. Whatever, no big deal. I’m up for it, whatever you want to bring on,” Balfour said.
Oakland’s long-ball display came against Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez, who led the American League in earned run average (ERA) with a 2.57 mark during the regular season.
Game Four was scheduled for yesterday in Detroit, with Doug Fister (14-9, 3.67 ERA) expected to start for the Tigers against rookie Dan Straily (10-8, 3.96).
“We’re smelling it now,” Balfour said.
“We want to wrap it up tomorrow. I’m sure they’re going to be fired up, and we are too,” he added.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
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Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB