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Suzuki, Cust help A's rally past Tigers

Aug 1, 2007 - 6:25 AM By Tom Kent PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

OAKLAND, California - The Oakland Athletics were able to end July on a good note.

All-Star Dan Haren labored through six innings and Kurt Suzuki and Jack Cust combined to drive in four runs in the sixth as Oakland defeated the Detroit Tigers, 7-3, on Tuesday.

The Athletics entered with an 8-18 record in July, which was their first losing record in the month since going 13-14 in 2000. It also marked the second time since the 1998 campaign that Oakland had lost more than 17 games in any month.

"Everyone is going a hundred percent right now," Haren said. "That's all you can ask. (Tuesday) we came out with some fire and battled a really good pitcher in (Justin) Verlander and won."

Despite the victory, the struggling A's remain 13 games behind the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (62-43) in the American League West. It is their largest deficit in the division since they finished the 2001 season 14 games behind Seattle.

With the A's trailing, 3-1, in the sixth, Mark Kotsay and Marco Scutaro singled off Verlander (11-4) and advanced on Donnie Murphy's sacrifice fly to right. Suzuki then lined a two-run RBI single to even the score at 3-3.

"It a good feeling anytime you can help your team win," Suzuki said. "Especially against a great pitcher like Verlander. I was just trying to pick out a good pitch and make sure I didn't miss it. If you try to put too much on it against someone like him, you'll strike out."

After Tigers reliever Macay McBride walked Nick Swisher to load the bases, Cust singled to right to plate Suzuki and rookie Travis Buck for a 5-3 advantage.

Haren, who entered with an AL-leading 2.42 ERA, yielded three runs while striking out three and walking one. The righthander threw 52 of his 91 pitches for strikes.

"This season I have definitely gotten better as the game has gone on," Haren said. "It seems that I have put us in the whole early this year and that's what happened. Early runs are frustrating, but it's good when you can settle down and keep your team in the game."

The 26-year-old Haren (13-3) has not lost to a non-division opponent this season.

In the seventh, Suzuki added another run-scoring single and Buck lofted a sacrifice fly as Oakland pushed its advantage to 7-3.

"It was good to reward Dan," Suzuki said. "It seems like every time out he gives us at least seven good innings and we were able to come back for him. Hopefully this will help us straighten things out."

Verlander allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings with four walks and three strikeouts. The 24-year-old righthander had received no-decisions in his last two starts.

"(Verlander) just didn't take the game in hand from the get-go," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "He had a chance to take the game over in the first few innings and he didn't do it. He didn't pitch the game, he just threw the ball and it cost him."

"Verlander is one of the best in the game," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "It's nice to get a win against someone of his caliber."

Detroit built an early 3-0 lead as Placido Polanco had an RBI groundout in the first and Sean Casey delivered a run-scoring double and later scored on Mike Rabelo's bunt sacrifice in the second.

Tiger slugger Gary Sheffield recorded his 2,500th career hit with a single to shallow center in the third, becoming the 85th player in major league history to accomplish the feat.

Palanco recorded his 648th errorless chance in the first inning, setting a major league record. He fielded three more chances to extend the streak to 651.