OAKLAND, Calif. - These decisive Game 5s sure are becoming familiar for Justin Verlander.
Just like last October in Oakland, the Tigers have been pushed to a winner take-all fifth game in their AL division series against the Athletics. And Detroit will have Verlander on the mound again tonight after he pitched a four-hit shutout in the 2012 clincher.
“Well, you don’t pretend. It’s not just another game,” Verlander said after the Tigers evened the series with an 8-6 victory Tuesday at Comerica Park. “The season is on the line. It was on the line for us tonight, too.This whole season, the way we battled and played as a team, comes down to one game, may the best team win. You can’t treat it just like another game. It’s a little bit different. There is more to it.”
The A’s will counter with rookie Sonny Gray against Verlander again after they put on a pitching show Saturday night at the Coliseum.
“He’s a little bit of a bulldog, he’s scared of nothing,” Manager Bob Melvin said, noting Gray’s experience on the big stage just last Saturday.
Melvin said he doesn’t know how he might use, if at all, 18-game winner and Game 1 loser Bartolo Colon, who is “willing to do anything.”
“I’m not really sure how I’m going to handle that yet,” Melvin said.
Verlander dominated in a thrilling pitcher’s duel with Gray, though he had nothing to show for it in a 1-0 loss.
Verlander is riding a 22-inning postseason scoreless streak against the A’s, and has 33 strikeouts over the past three playoff match ups with Oakland, 11 in each outing.
Not that the A’s are counting.
“He’s been beaten before, it can happen again,” third baseman Josh Donaldson said.
Verlander acknowledged it would have been great to pitch the playoff opener, while also noting 21-game winner Max Scherzer more than earned the nod. Now, Verlander gets the ball for his most meaningful start this year - to extend the season tonight.
With Scherzer pitching in relief Tuesday, Verlander became the automatic Game 5 choice for Manager Jim Leyland.
“I don’t want to sit here and tell you we planned on doing it, but it was an option,” Leyland said. “It worked out good for us. We took our best shot and we had to because we were behind the 8-ball a little bit. We took that shot and, hey, both teams are going to have a good pitcher going two days from now.”
Both clubs chose to use Wednesday as a full day off without on-field workouts after two long flights in four days.
Who to start was quite a choice for 2012 AL Manager of the Year Melvin, whose team is trying to avoid having the season end at the hands of Detroit for the third time in as many postseasons - last year and also a four game sweep by the Tigers in the 2006 AL championship series.
The last time the A’s won a winner-take-all postseason game was in Game 7 of the 1973 World Series against the New York Mets. Oakland has lost its last five Game 5s in the AL division series since 2000.
The AL West champion A’s know what’s at stake - and realize full well the challenge of facing Verlander again.Last fall’s frustrating finish is still fresh for everybody.
“Going to go out there like we always do,” lead off hitter and center fielder Coco Crisp said. “He’s a great competitor and we’re a competitive team. We’re going out there to go out and beat him.”
Verlander has hardly had the kind of dominant season like he had the past two years, including 2011 when he won both AL MVP and Cy Young Award honors. Yet that hardly affected Leyland’s decision-making as he insisted Verlander’s 13-12 record was hardly indicative of how well he pitched much of the season aside from a couple of rough stretches.
Oakland rookie Stephen Vogt delivered a walk-off single in Saturday’s win once Verlander was out of the game. But he also had a wild 10-pitch at-bat with Verlander in which the left-handed hitting catcher fouled off the first five pitches and seven in all before striking out to end the seventh.
Postseason glance NL DIVISION SERIES
WEDNESDAY’S GAME St. Louis 6, Pittsburgh 1,
St. Louis wins series 3-2 AL DIVISION SERIES
TODAY’S GAME All times Central Detroit (Verlander 13-12) at Oakland
(Gray 5-3), 7:07 p.m., Series tied 2-2
Sports, Pages 19 on 10/10/2013