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Suzuki drives in four as A's rally from seven runs down

Sep 3, 2007 - 2:13 AM OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- It will be a long flight home for the Detroit Tigers after blowing a seven-run lead against the Oakland Athletics.

Closer Todd Jones yielded Kurt Suzuki's two-run homer in the ninth inning to tie the game and seldom-used Yorman Bazardo yielded a walk-off single to Jack Hannahan in the 10th as the Tigers dropped an 8-7 decision to the Athletics on Sunday.

With the loss, Detroit (73-64) completed a 2-4 road trip on a real downer before returning home to open a homestand with the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.

"A loss like this hurts in April, May, June, July, August, or September," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "Obviously this is one of the significant ones because we had a chance to pick up in the wild card and the division and we let it get away, and you can't let that happen."

The club also wasted an excellent chance to gain ground in both the American League Central Division and wild card races, as both the Cleveland Indians (78-58) and New York Yankees (76-61) lost earlier Sunday.

Detroit is 5 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the division and three games behind New York in the wild card chase.

"We were 45 minutes into the game and it was the fifth inning and then we end up playing a 3 1/2 hour game," Jones said. "It was a weird day but you've got to find a way to win the game no matter what. You've just got to find a way. We didn't do it, I didn't do it."

The Tigers squandered a fast start by Nate Robertson and a 7-0 lead, sparked by two doubles and three RBI by Marcus Thames.

"We've certainly missed too many opportunities to this point," Robertson said. "We're not out of it by any means but these are tough games right here and its just kind of back and forth too much. We haven't gotten back on a roll like we did earlier this summer and playoff teams do that. If we plan on being there come October we've got to get on a roll and its becoming a pressing issue."

Robertson retired the first 13 batters and left after six innings with a comfortable 7-2 lead. Oakland rallied against the bullpen, getting a two-run single by Suzuki and another run-scoring base hit by Nick Swisher in the seventh off Fernando Rodney to cut its deficit to 7-5.

Detroit reliever Joel Zumaya got all four batters he faced to set the stage for Jones, who was seeking his 34th save. But Marco Scutaro singled to lead off the frame and Suzuki belted a 1-1 offering over the center field wall to forge a 7-7 tie.

"It's great coming off a guy like Todd Jones, who's one of the best in the game and he's been doing it for a long time," Suzuki said. "I try to stay confident and just try to help the ballclub anyway I can. We're still in here trying to win games and we're going to keep fighting until the end and keep pounding away and try to win some games against some teams that are in the hunt and if we play spoilers we play spoilers."

"I didn't think it was gone but he did a nice job, put a good swing on it and give him a little bit of credit," Jones said. "He's a good player for them and you've got to make your pitches on everybody and I didn't make my pitches on Suzuki and he got me."

Oakland then immediately loaded the bases on a single by Shannon Stewart, a walk to Swisher and an intentional walk to Jack Cust after a wild pitch advanced both runners. But Jones got Mike Piazza to ground weakly into a 6-2-3 double play, and Dan Johnson flied out to center field.

Leyland elected to go with Bazardo (0-1), who had pitched just seven innings all season, in the 10th. The righthander hit Mark Ellis with a pitch before Hannahan blooped a single that hit on the left-field line and kicked into foul territory.

Ellis, who was running on the pitch, scored without a throw, prompting a wild celebration. Hannahan was swinging only because he fouled off two sacrifice attempts.

"It's been great, its always a situation you want to be in for your at-bat to be on the line for your team to win the game," Hannahan said. "We've got a bunch of guys that go out and play hard everyday and whenever you do that you're going to win games and have big comebacks.

"Robertson had a perfect game going in the fifth and a 7-0 lead and we came back and won so that tells you a lot about this team."

Huston Street (4-2) pitched a scoreless 10th for the win.

Oakland rookie starter Dallas Braden had no more luck against Detroit in this one than he did in his last appearance against the defending AL champions, when he was tagged for eight runs in 1 2/3 innings on August 12 at Comerica Park.

In this contest, Thames doubled home two runs in the first inning and another during a five-run sixth that knocked out Braden, who was charged with six runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings.