Bartolo Colón surrendered three runs in the first inning. After a double by Austin Jackson, Colon hit Torii Hunter with a pitch and Miguel Cabrera followed with an RBI single that sent Hunter to third. Prince Fielder grounded into a double play, with Hunter scoring on the play. After a Victor Martínez double, Alex Avila grounded a seeing-eye single to right, which gave Detroit an early 3–0 lead. Max Scherzer struck out 11 and gave up one hit through the first six innings. In the bottom of the seventh, Yoenis Céspedes hit a two-run home run to trim the Tigers lead to 3–2. Joaquín Benoit got Josh Donaldson to pop out to first to end the eighth inning, and he then struck out the side in the ninth to close out the win. A's hitters fanned 16 times off three Tigers pitchers.
