The Oakland Athletics fell behind early on Thursday afternoon and for a little while it appeared as though they would be swept by the Detroit Tigers. But the offense came to life in the later innings and the A's avoided the sweep with a lopsided 12-4 win behind Tom Milone.
In the second inning, Milone gave up two runs on an RBI single from Gerald Laird and a sacrifice fly from Austin Jackson. The A's managed to cut that lead in half in the top of the third, then Seth Smith homered in the fifth to tie things up at 2-2.
Prince Fielder hit an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth to give the Tigers the lead once again, but the A's broke through in a big way with a four-run sixth inning. Brandon Moss drove in a run with a double, Josh Donaldson added an RBI single and George Kottaras plated another two runs with a two-out triple to give Oakland a 6-3 lead.
Andy Dirks led off the bottom of the sixth with a home run to let Detroit get one of those runs back, but the A's avoided further damage. The A's offensive output wasn't finished, as they exploded for another six runs in the top of the ninth. Those runs came on a Yoenis Cespedes sacrifice fly, a bases-loaded walk to Daric Barton, a bases-clearing double by Smith and another double by Donaldson that brought Smith home. All six runs came with two outs in the inning.
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