Trey Sweeney had four hits, including a home run, and Ty Madden struck out seven as the Detroit Tigers defeated the Oakland Athletics 9-1 on Sunday.
The Tigers, aiming for a late push in the AL Wild Card race, won two out of three games in Oakland and are now two games above .500.
The Athletics, who will move their home games to Sacramento next season before relocating to Las Vegas in 2028, had 11,250 fans in attendance.
Madden (1-0) and Beau Brieske combined to hold the A’s hitless through the first five innings. Madden, who earned his first career win, struck out seven and allowed just one run in his third major league game, with Brieske starting the game as the opener.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch praised Madden for being “calm” and a “huge competitor,” especially important since the bullpen was exhausted from a 13-inning game earlier in the series.
“He came in and was pounding the strike zone. … It’s nice when he could step up and put up zeros while we were sort of sorting our way through the day,” Hinch said.
Madden’s splitter, a new pitch he developed in spring training, was particularly effective on Sunday. “I have a lot of confidence in it right now,” Madden said.
The A’s got their first hit in the fifth inning from Lawrence Butler, who extended his career-best hit streak to 18 games. Zack Gelof drove in Oakland’s only run with a single in the sixth inning.
Sweeney, who went 4 for 4 with a walk, hit a leadoff home run in the third inning off A’s starter J.T. Ginn (0-1). Kerry Carpenter later drove in Jace Jung to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, Sweeney singled to drive in Spencer Torkelson. Detroit then added six more runs in the eighth inning against Ross Stripling, who gave up four consecutive RBI hits.
Sweeney, who made his major league debut on August 16, said he has always had confidence at the plate, but getting four hits certainly helps.
“I was still confident in myself even when I was 0 for 6 the other day,” Sweeney said. “It’s just the way the game goes. It feels good. It was nice to have some hits fall for me today.”
Ginn, in his second major league start, allowed three runs in five innings and gave up seven hits.
“I definitely didn’t have my best stuff out there today but made some competitive pitches when I had to, left some pitches up in the zone that hurt me,” Ginn said.
“Some days you’re going to have those days, just try to compete and stay in the game as long as you can.”
The A’s have six games left at the Coliseum after finishing the final game of their second-to-last homestand.
“The closer it gets, the more it comes to realization,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said, adding that the last homestand — from September 20 to 26 — will be “tough.”
Hinch, who made his major league debut with the A’s in 1998, walked up to Mt. Davis — the tarped-off third deck — before the game and called his final moments managing at the Coliseum “bittersweet.”
There are no plans so far to open up Mt. Davis for the last game, which is sold out. “There’s a lot of energy in this ballpark,” Hinch said. “There’s a lot of pride in this ballpark.
There’s a lot of history with or without me, but it’s a special place because it was the first time I ever called myself a big leaguer. And there’s only one place that I’ll ever feel that way.”
