Gardy discusses unusual day in Oakland

OAKLAND -- The pregame Friday night at the Oakland Coliseum was a little out of the ordinary, with the Detroit Tigers and the Oakland A’s beginning the evening’s proceedings by picking a game suspended May 19 in Detroit because of rain, which the A's won, 7-3.

Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said he and A’s skipper Bob Melvin talked on the phone early in the day and set up a meeting with the umpiring crew to make sure they were doing things by the book.

Specifically, Gardenhire wanted to know whether the lineup he submitted before the game was resumed in the bottom of the seventh inning needed to have a pitcher’s name on it. With the Tigers down, 5-3, entering the bottom of the seventh back in May, Victor Alcantara was the Detroit pitcher. But he has long since been demoted to Triple-A and wasn’t among the club's September callups.

“We’re the home team, and say I have one guy I plan on going in the game to pitch the top of the eighth,” Gardenhire said. “But if we score and go ahead, then I’d put another guy in. So if I list that first guy, do I lose him because his name is on the [lineup] card?”

Gardenhire went with David McKay but said he didn't want to list him and lose him if the Tigers got the lead and went with Jose Cisnero, who was warming up next to McKay before the game resumed.

“It’s interesting,” Gardenhire said. “I haven’t done this before. I talked with Bob about it, and he said he’d just leave it blank, which is what we were thinking of doing anyway. We chatted about protocol. We just want to make sure we do it right. It’s not unprecedented, but it is different.”

Worth noting

The A’s began Friday's game with one of Gardenhire's favorite pitchers, Liam Hendriks, who was pitching in middle relief when the A's were in Detroit in May. Since then, Hendriks has become the A's closer and an All-Star.

Gardenhire was managing the Twins when the Australian-born Hendriks broke in the big leagues with Minnesota in 2011.

“He was one of my starters,” Gardenhire said with a chuckle. “He was throwing 92 [mph]. Now he’s throwing like 100. I’m going to go over to Australia and find some juice off those trees and get to 100 with our guys.

"He’s worked hard to get where he is. Good for him. He’s a good guy.”

Told about Gardenhire’s words, Hendriks said, “Back then, I hit 92 maybe on a good day. It’s a little different now.”