Tigers Rally for Early Lead on A's

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Detroit Tigers turned four singles into four runs in a four-run fourth inning Wednesday night to take a 5-3 lead over the Oakland Athletics in Game 2 of the AL championship series on Wednesday night.

Down 3-1 after Milton Bradley's two-run homer and a broken-bat RBI single in the first three innings, the Tigers opened the fourth with back-to-back singles by Placido Polanco and Magglio Ordonez. After a one-out walk to Ivan Rodriguez, Craig Monroe singled in Polanco and Alexis Gomez followed with a two-run single that glanced off third baseman Eric Chavez's glove.

A sacrifice fly by Brandon Inge capped the scoring for Detroit.

Bradley, the hot-tempered outfielder who has found respect and success in his first season with Oakland, drove in Mark Kotsay with a sharp piece of hitting in the first inning. He followed it with a two-run shot to right off Justin Verlander, his third career postseason homer.

Carlos Guillen doubled and scored on Monroe's hard-hit sacrifice fly in the second inning for Detroit, which took the series opener Tuesday night and hoped to head home with a commanding lead in the best-of-seven series.

Oakland's Esteban Loaiza started strong, allowing just two hits in the first three innings. He didn't win in any of his previous five career postseason appearances, but pitched eight outstanding innings in Game 2 of the division series against Minnesota, getting no decision.

Bradley went 1-for-13 in the division series, but already had four hits against Detroit after going 2-for-4 on Tuesday night.

The A's have never recovered from an 0-2 playoff series deficit, and they hoped to even the series before Game 3 on Friday night in Detroit. Left-hander Kenny Rogers will lead the Tigers against Rich Harden, the hard-throwing right-hander who spent much of the season on the disabled list.

Detroit manager Jim Leyland shuffled his Game 1 lineup with first baseman Sean Casey sidelined by a calf injury. Guillen moved from shortstop to first base, replaced by the free-swinging Neifi Perez in the No. 2 spot in the lineup. Gomez - who hadn't played in the postseason - replaced Marcus Thames as the designated hitter.

Verlander was shaky in the first inning, giving up Kotsay's one-out double and throwing a wild pitch before Bradley poked an outside pitch over second baseman Placido Polanco's head, breaking his bat in the process.

Verlander then balked Bradley to second base, but escaped the jam.

The Tigers replied with a sharp double to the left-field wall by Guillen, who improved to 10-for-20 in the postseason with his team-best fifth extra-base hit. He advanced on a groundout and scored on Monroe's fly to right, where Bradley caught it on the run.

The A's held a pregame moment of silence for Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, who died in a plane crash earlier Wednesday in New York. Lidle, who won 21 games for Oakland from 2001-02, pitched the best game of his career at the Coliseum, a one-hitter against the Texas Rangers.

The A's hung Lidle's No. 21 Oakland jersey near their dugout.