Tigers top A's in 11 to split odd twin bill

OAKLAND -- Someday perhaps the Tigers will play as well at home as they have done recently on the road, including Friday’s 5-4, 11-inning victory over the Oakland A’s at the Coliseum.

That’s manager Ron Gardenhire’s hope, in any event. He pointed to recent road games, including beating Justin Verlander in Houston, 2-1, as just how well 42-98 Detroit can compete. Friday’s second game, which saw Willi Castro deliver a two-out double in the 11th to bring home the winning run, is in that category, too.

“We have played horrendous at home,” Gardenhire said.

• Box score

That point was particularly relevant because the evening began with the completion of a suspended game from May 19 in Detroit, a game the A’s wound up winning, 7-3. Despite wrapping up over 2,000 miles from Comerica Park, it goes down as the Tigers’ 50th home loss this season.

“We have played well on the road, don’t ask me why. In Houston and Minnesota, we played great. We didn’t win them all, but it was exciting baseball. Here, the crowd was loud for a playoff team, and I don’t understand why we aren’t doing this at home.”

• Tigers lose 'home' game in Oakland

Castro’s double inside the first-base line brought home Dawel Lugo from second base as the Tigers, down four runs in the seventh inning, put one of their most spirited rallies of the season. Before Joe Jimenez nailed down the save in the 11th, rookie John Schrieber worked the final two outs of the 10th inning for his first big league win.

Back in the clubhouse, the Tigers stuffed the 6-foot-3 Schrieber into a laundry cart and wheeled him into the showers for a celebratory dousing.

“That, I wasn’t expecting,” Schrieber said. “It was cold. But it was fun.”

The Tigers didn’t get a runner past first base in the first six innings, but after Miguel Cabrera walked to open the seventh, Christin Stewart became just the second player to take A’s starter Homer Bailey deep in the Coliseum since the Trade Deadline deal that brought Bailey over from Kansas City.

From there, it was all Tigers. The A’s, one of the top offensive clubs in the game, had just two hits the rest of the way and struck out 15 times in all.

The postgame celebration was something Stewart would like to see the Tigers have more of.

“There’s nothing like that first W for a pitcher,” he said. ”We did a lot of things right to get there. Lugo had that hit that tied the game [in the eighth] and the hit in the 11th. Travis [Demeritte] got him to second base with a really nice bunt. And that was some good hitting by Willi.”

The A’s had beaten the Tigers the last 16 times they squared off, matching the worst such streak against any one team in franchise history.