Scherzer dazzles as Tigers top A's | The Salt Lake Tribune

ALDS • Detroit ace strikes out 11 over seven innings in Game 1 win.

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Oakland, Calif. • Max Scherzer overpowered Oakland with his dominant fastball, then baffled the Athletics with his off-speed stuff.

Scherzer struck out 11 over seven dominant innings, Miguel Cabrera helped stake Detroit to an early lead before leaving in the eighth, and the Tigers held on to beat the A's 3-2 on Friday night in the opener of their AL division series rematch. The only guy who could get anything going against Scherzer was Yoenis Cespedes — and that wasn't enough the way the likely Cy Young Award winner was pitching.

Cabrera and Alex Avila each hit first-inning RBI singles against 40-year-old All-Star Bartolo Colon, whose winless stretch against the Tigers extended to 10½ years.

Scherzer retired 16 of his first 18 batters and was nearly untouchable before Cespedes hit a two-run drive in the seventh for his first career playoff home run. The strikeouts were his most in seven postseason starts.

Cespedes struck out in the ninth against closer Joaquin Benoit. Tigers 3, Athletics 2

Detroit AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

A.Jackson cf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .250

Tor.Hunter rf 3 1 1 0 0 1 .333

Mi.Cabrera 3b 4 0 1 1 0 0 .250

R.Santiago 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Fielder 1b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .250

V.Martinez dh 4 1 2 0 0 1 .500

Avila c 4 0 2 1 0 1 .500

Infante 2b 4 0 2 0 0 1 .500

Dirks lf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .000

b-Jh.Peralta ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000

D.Kelly lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-

Iglesias ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .000

Totals 35 3 10 2 0 7

Oakland AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Crisp cf 1 0 0 0 3 1 .000

Lowrie ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .000

Donaldson 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .000

Moss dh 4 1 1 0 0 3 .250

Cespedes lf 4 1 2 2 0 2 .500

Reddick rf 4 0 0 0 0 3 .000

Vogt c 3 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Barton 1b 3 0 0 0 0 3 .000

Sogard 2b 2 0 0 0 0 0 .000

a-Callaspo ph-2b 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000

Totals 30 2 3 2 3 16

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Detroit 300 000 000 — 3 10 0

Oakland 000 000 200 — 2 3 1

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a-struck out for Sogard in the 8th. b-lined out for Dirks in the 9th.

E—Cespedes (1).

LOB—Detroit 6, Oakland 4. 2B—A.Jackson (1), V.Martinez (1). 3B—Cespedes (1). HR—Cespedes (1), off Scherzer. RBIs—Mi.Cabrera (1), Avila (1), Cespedes 2 (2). CS—Tor.Hunter (1).

Runners left in scoring position—Detroit 2 (Dirks, Avila) Oakland 2 (Vogt, Lowrie). RISP—Detroit 3 for 6 Oakland 0 for 3.

GIDP—Fielder.

DP—Oakland 1 (Lowrie, Sogard, Barton), (Reddick, Colon, Lowrie).

Detroit IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Scherzer W, 1-0 7 3 2 2 2 11 2.57

Smyly H, 1 2/3 0 0 0 1 2 0.00

Benoit S, 1-1 11⁄3 0 0 0 0 3 0.00

Oakland IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Colon L, 0-1 6 10 3 3 0 4 4.50

Otero 11⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

Doolittle 12⁄3 0 0 0 0 3 0.00

Inherited runners-scored—Benoit 1-0. HBP—by Colon (Tor.Hunter). WP—Scherzer.

Umpires—Home, Mark Wegner First, CB Bucknor Second, Gary Darling Third, Jim Reynolds Right, Mike DiMuro Left, Tom Hallion.