Not the storybook ending Skubal wanted, Tigers fall in extras 

OAKLAND -- Tarik Skubal's final homecoming to the Oakland Coliseum wasn’t the storybook ending that many expected, but the story was just getting started. The Tigers and A’s traded runs into the 13th inning until Seth Brown’s walk-off single sent Detroit to a 7-6 loss Friday night.

The dramatics came at a price for Detroit, which dropped to 5 1/2 games behind the Twins for the third and final AL Wild Card spot.

While Skubal, born in nearby Hayward and raised as an A’s fan, came back to the Coliseum one last time as an American League Cy Young favorite, the Tigers and A’s made him a footnote. One inning after another, the two clubs traded punches deep into the night to add another memorable game to the Coliseum’s rich history.

The A’s chased Skubal in the sixth inning on former Tiger Daz Cameron’s go-ahead RBI single, Oakland’s ninth hit off the Tigers lefty. But the drama was just beginning, as Riley Greene doubled and came around on two Michel Otañez wild pitches in the seventh to draw Detroit even again.

Then back and forth they went:

Colt Keith’s 10th-inning RBI single off Mason Miller’s 103 mph fastball -- the hardest-thrown pitch for a Tigers hit in the Statcast era (2015-present) -- pulled Detroit in front in the 10th, but Brent Rooker doubled home Jacob Wilson to even it up in the bottom of the inning.

Parker Meadows, whose two-out, two-strike grand slam in the ninth inning powered the Tigers to a comeback win in San Diego Thursday night, hit a two-run double in the 11th in a lefty-lefty matchup with Scott Alexander to put Detroit in front again, but Brown’s pinch-hit two-run homer tied it once more of Shelby Miller.

Greene put the Tigers back in front in the 12th with a leadoff single off Grant Holman to score Ryan Kreidler, but the A’s loaded the bases with nobody out off Beau Brieske to set up Rooker’s sac fly to knot it up once more.

Holman’s bases-loaded strikeout of Meadows in the 13th marked the Tigers' first scoreless inning in extras. Brieske tried to do the same, striking out Tristan Gray for the first out with Bleday on second, but Brown tucked a ground ball just inside first base to end it.