Ellis' home run lifts A's over Tigers 1 hour, 26 minutes ago

Ellis' home run lifts A's over Tigers 1 hour, 26 minutes ago



OAKLAND, Calif. - Mark Ellis hit a go-ahead home run in the sixth inning, and the Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 Wednesday in the fourth straight series loss for the defending AL champions.

ADVERTISEMENT

The AL Central-leading Tigers, who began the day one game ahead of second-place Cleveland, dropped two straight to the A's after winning the series opener. The Tigers have lost six of seven games overall and eight of 11.

Mike Piazza had two hits and drove in a run for the A's, who won their second straight following a four-game losing streak. Piazza is batting .354 (17-for-48) with 12 RBIs since coming off the disabled list on July 20. He has six multihit games since then.

Andrew Brown (1-0) allowed two hits in 1 1-3 innings for his first major league win, and Alan Embree got the five outs for his 12th save in 14 chances.

Oakland starter Dallas Braden, winless in 10 games since beating Baltimore on April 24, allowed two runs and four hits in 5 1-3 innings.

Craig Monroe and Magglio Ordonez each drove in runs. Placido Polanco had two hits and is batting .488 (39-for-80) against Oakland, tops among active players.

Nate Robertson (6-9) gave up three runs and nine hits in six-plus innings. He lost his third straight start and is 2-6 in his last 10 starts.

Since shutting out Minnesota over seven innings on July 17, Robertson has allowed 15 runs and 30 hits in 17 2-3 innings for a 7.64 ERA. He's winless with a 7.11 ERA in three career starts in Oakland

Monroe's RBI single put the Tigers ahead in the second, put Oakland took a 2-1 lead in the third on consecutive doubles by Travis Buck and Shannon Stewart followed by Piazza's single. Ordonez's single made it 2-2 in the sixth.

Robertson retired nine straight batters before Ellis' 13th homer of the season, which matched a career high.

Oakland left the bases loaded in the seventh when Piazza and Ellis grounded into outs. After Detroit loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, Embree came in and retired Curtis Granderson on a short flyout to left, then struck out Monroe.

Notes:@ Tigers SS Carlos Guillen, who was out of the starting lineup with a sore left knee, pinch hit in the ninth. ... A's RHP Esteban Loiaza pitched a rehab start with Triple-A Sacramento on Wednesday. ... Polanco's double extended the Tigers streak of at least one extra base hit to 68 games. ... The A's finished with a 9-18 record in July, the second worst in the AL. ... Ellis has gone 67 games without making an error, three short of the Oakland mark set by Rafael Bournigal. ... The Tigers are 6-13 in games started by Robertson.