Major League Baseball

Tigers unable to slow down A's in 14-4 loss

Published Aug. 29, 2013 1:21 a.m. ET

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Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland praised the potent offense of the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night.

''It looks like Oakland was sitting in on our pitchers' meeting. I guess I'd start out with that,'' he said after the Tigers' 14-4 loss.

Tigers starter Doug Fister (11-7) took the loss for Detroit, which has lost the first three games of the four-game series. He gave up seven runs and 13 hits in five innings.

''Then, I'd say that they hit some soft that fell, they hit some hard that fell,'' Leyland said. ''They hit some short that fell, and they hit some real long that eventually landed.''

The Tigers have been outscored 28-13 by the Athletics, as starter Anibal Sanchez, Justin Verlander and Fister have allowed 16 runs (14 earned) and 22 hits in 15 innings.

''When you go through one of those little three-day sessions where the starting pitching is struggling a little bit, scoring runs really had nothing to do with it,'' Leyland said. ''You give up that many hits and runs ... that pretty much simplifies it.''

Fister was followed to the mound by Jose Alvarez, who allowed five runs and five hits in 2 1/3 innings.

Drew Smyly and Jeremy Bonderman finished the game.

Torii Hunter homered for the AL Central-leading Tigers. Hunter and Victor Martinez each had three hits.

Brandon Moss did the most damage for Oakland with two homers and a career-high six RBIs.

''A couple of weeks ago, I was taking BP (batting practice) and found something that's been hindering me the whole season,'' he said. ''I made the adjustment and I'm been feeling pretty good.''

In his past six games, Moss is 9 for 20 (.450) with four home runs and 10 RBIs.

''He's hot right now,'' Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. ''And the thing is getting two home runs off of two left-handers (Alvarez and Smyly). ... He's seeing the ball pretty well right now.''

Three of Moss' home runs have come in his past two games for Oakland, which had a season-high 21 hits.

Josh Donaldson had three hits and drove in two runs and Eric Sogard had two RBIs for the Athletics.

''We got beat down real bad. It was an ugly game,'' Hunter said. ''... It's like they knew what was coming. Those guys were swinging the bats really well against us the last couple of days. ''

Oakland starter Daniel Straily (7-7) got his first win since July 9. He allowed a run and eight hits over six innings, walking two and striking out four.

Straily had been 0-5 with a 5.20 ERA in his past seven starts, since being recalled from Triple-A Sacramento. He went down to the minor league club in late June.

Left-hander Brett Anderson relieved Straily to start the seventh and pitched the last three innings for his first major league save.

It was the usual starter's first appearance since April 29, after being sidelined with a stress fracture to his right foot. He was reinstated from the 60-day disabled list earlier on Wednesday.

He allowed three runs and five hits and struck out a batter.

Oakland used five consecutive singles and a sacrifice fly for three runs in the second to take the lead. Sogard and Kurt Suzuki had run-scoring singles and Donaldson hit a sacrifice fly.

Hunter put Detroit on the board and made it 3-1 with his 15th homer in the third. With one out, Hunter hammered Straily's 1-1 pitch into the left-field stands.

The Athletics then added four more runs in the top of the fifth for a 7-1 lead. Moss drove in the first run with a double and Yoenis Cespedes, Alberto Callaspo and Sogard produced RBI singles.

Oakland added three more in the sixth on Jed Lowrie's run-scoring double and Moss' two-run homer off Alvarez.

Donaldson singled in a run in the eighth and Moss added a three-run homer, which came off Smyly. It was his 24th homer of the season.

Detroit got three in the eighth on Andy Dirks' RBI single and Alex Avila's two-run double.

Note: Detroit said Verlander has committed $1 million to launch an initiative with the Detroit Tigers Foundation to support mental health efforts of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families in the Detroit area as well as his home area of Richmond and Norfolk, Va. ... The Tigers optioned Alvarez to Triple-A Toledo and recalled right-hander Luke Putkonen. ... Tigers right-hander Max Scherzer (19-1, 2.73) will go for his 20th win in Thursday afternoon's series finale. He will face Bartolo Colon (14-5, 2.97), who will be returning from the disabled list, where he was recovering from a strained left groin.

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