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DETROIT -- On a night of desperation, dispute and finally, delirium, Max Scherzer and the Detroit Tigers kept their season alive by the slimmest of margins. Broncos Roby Jersey . A tying home run, helped along by a couple of fans in right field. A full-count pitch with the bases loaded that was low and inside but became strike three when the batter swung. A line drive down the line with the bases still full -- foul by a few feet. During a relief outing to remember, Scherzer escaped a major jam one inning after two fans reached out to try to reel in Victor Martinezs disputed home run, and the Tigers rallied past the Oakland Athletics 8-6 on Tuesday to force a decisive fifth game in their AL division series. Scherzer was in line to start Game 5, but the 21-game winner came on Tuesday instead for his first relief appearance since the 2011 post-season. He wriggled out of a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the eighth inning and got the win. "We took our best shot and we had to because we were behind the 8-ball a little bit," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "We took that shot and, hey, both teams are going to have a good pitcher going two days from now." After avoiding elimination, the Tigers can now send Justin Verlander to the mound Thursday night in Oakland. Verlander shut out the As at the Coliseum in Game 5 of the division series last year. Oakland hasnt announced a starter for Thursday. It is Bartolo Colons turn in the post-season rotation, but rookie Sonny Gray could also come back on normal rest after a brilliant performance in Game 2. "We havent decided anything yet," manager Bob Melvin said. Playing catch-up most of the way in Game 4, the Tigers tied it first with Jhonny Peraltas three-run homer in the fifth and then on Martinezs solo shot in the seventh. A couple of fans attempted to catch Martinezs drive, and at least one of them bobbled the ball as he reached over the railing above the wall. That prevented right fielder Josh Reddick from having any chance at a leaping grab. Reddick and centre fielder Coco Crisp immediately protested, pointing up at the stands in the hope of a fan-interference call. But umpires upheld the home run after a replay review. "I have no doubt I was going to catch that ball. When I looked at the replay, thats what I thought," Reddick said. "Its totally frustrating that a fan can influence the game." Gary Darling, the crew chief, was umpiring in right field. He disagreed, even after the replay. "It was clear he was not going to catch the ball, so it was clearly going to be a home run," Darling said. "There wasnt any other evidence on replay to turn it another way." Scherzer came out of the bullpen in the seventh and gave up a run, then ran into trouble again in the eighth. With the Tigers ahead 5-4, he allowed a walk and a double to start the inning. But after an intentional walk to load the bases, Leyland left his ace on the mound. Scherzer struck out Reddick, who swung and missed at what would have been ball four on a low, inside pitch. Stephen Vogt struck out too, but pinch-hitter Alberto Callaspos line drive to left nearly fell in before landing foul. Callaspo eventually lined out to centre. "It was surreal," said Scherzer, the winning pitcher in both Detroit victories this series. "Maybe its not the ninth inning, but thats the stuff you dream about pitching -- bases loaded, eighth inning, no outs, and I was able to do it." Detroit, held hitless through four innings in a game of twists and turns, added three runs in the eighth on a wild pitch and a two-run double by Omar Infante that made it 8-4. Yoenis Cespedes hit a two-run single in the ninth, bringing the potential tying run to the plate, but Joaquin Benoit struck out Seth Smith to end it. Crisp had four hits and three runs for the As, who led 3-0 and 4-3 but couldnt close out the defending American League champions. The Oakland bullpen hadnt allowed a run all series until Tuesday. After Crisp put the As ahead 4-3 with an RBI single off Scherzer in the seventh, Martinez lifted a fly to right against reliever Sean Doolittle. It would have been an extremely difficult catch for Reddick, and it looked as though the ball might have cleared the wall even without the fans involvement. It was certainly an anxious wait while umpires reviewed the play, which brought back memories of Derek Jeters fan-aided homer against Baltimore in the 1996 AL championship series at Yankee Stadium. Peralta followed with a double, and Austin Jackson -- who was 1 for 14 with 10 strikeouts in the series to that point -- managed a broken-bat single to put the Tigers ahead 5-4. It appeared Detroit was in big trouble in the eighth, but Scherzer was able to protect the one-run lead, and the Tigers eventually added to it. Detroit starter Doug Fister allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings before being relieved by Scherzer, who came back on three days rest after his victory in Game 1. Oakland took the series lead with a win in Game 3, and Crisps leadoff triple Tuesday put the Tigers on their heels again. Detroit brought the infield in -- a sign that even one run could be vital -- and Crisp scored on Jed Lowries one-out single, putting immediate pressure on the Tigers slumbering offence. It appeared the Athletics were on their way to the ALCS when Lowries two-run homer in the fifth gave Oakland a three-run lead. With slugger Miguel Cabrera still hobbled by injuries, As rookie Dan Straily held the Tigers hitless until the fifth. But after a bloop single by Prince Fielder, Martinez grounded a base hit to right. Peralta, who moved from shortstop to left field after returning from his late-season drug suspension, lined one over the wall in left, finally bringing the Comerica Park fans to life. NOTES: Cabrera hit a sixth-inning single. Hes reached base safely in all 28 of his post-season games with the Tigers. ... Detroit had gone seven games without a homer. ... Peraltas homer was the first extra-base hit allowed by Straily since Sept. 7, according to STATS. http://www.shopjerseysbroncos.com/Womens-John-Elway-Authentic-Jersey/ . The Blue Jackets play Thursday night at New Jersey in their first game after the NHLs Olympic hiatus. A native of Trencin, Slovakia, Gaborik has represented his country at the 2006 and 2010 Olympics but was unable to play in Sochi because of his injury. Cody Latimer Broncos Jersey .Y. - Andrew Hammond turned away 40 shots as the Binghamton Senators came from behind to defeat the visiting St.TORONTO - Inbounding the ball from behind the basket with 2.7 seconds left on the shot clock, at least there would have been if they were working, Nets guard Shaun Livingston found veteran and future Hall of Famer Paul Pierce in the corner. "One," counted down Raptors public address announcer Herbie Kuhn - filling in for the busted shot clock - over the Air Canada Centre speakers as Pierce stepped back and drained a 19-foot dagger to put Brooklyn up by eight. The Raptors had led by one a couple minutes earlier until Pierce went on a fourth-quarter rampage, scoring nine straight points to put the game out of reach in the dying minutes. This was precisely what Dwane Casey and his club feared most, whether they cared to admit it or not. "I thought we played a little bit as expected as it is our first playoff game," Casey said after a 94-87 loss to open the Raptors first playoff series in six years. "I thought we took ourselves out." They had battled their own inexperience, working through an early and understandable case of playoff jitters, they contended with spotty officiating and even navigated around an arena malfunction that knocked both shot clocks out of commission for most of the second half. For all their shortcomings on a Saturday afternoon they cant be particularly proud of, the game was in reach until the final few minutes, winning time. Thats when experience comes into play, more so than any other moment, any other game situation. The Nets have it, the Raptors dont and its something you cant simulate or prepare for. "You just get that feeling," said Pierce, who has played in more postseason games - now 137 - than anyone on the Nets roster. "[Ive] been in those situations a number of times. I dont get rattled in the fourth quarter, down the stretch, in playoff settings. Ive been in pretty much every playoff setting that you can imagine so I just try to stay calm." Torontos leading scorer had no such luck. Making his playoff debut, DeMar DeRozan didnt knock down his first field goal until late in the third quarter after missing his first eight shots. After the game he sat in front of his locker, dejected, disappointed, frustrated. Hes a student of the game and has studied playoff basketball but finally he understood what its like to live it, to experience it first hand. "Its not rocket science," he had said Thursday. No, but its a lot harder than it looks. "I just missed shots," DeRozan maintained, but it was more than that. "They overplayed him," said Kyle Lowry. "They really denied him the ball. Weve got to find ways to screen him and get him more looks, get him open a little bit sooner and quicker and get him to his sweet spots." At this time of year theres a learning curve, and the quicker DeRozan picks it up the better off the Raptors will be. If the playoffs are indeed about mental over physical strength, as Chuck Hayes so eloquently put it Friday, no one does it better than Pierce and the wily Kevin Garnett. "I grew up watching this guy," 27-year-old Greivis Vasquez said of Pierce, nine years his senior. "I went to his basketball camp, Nike camp, back in the day, imagine playing against him right now. Hes still doing it." Nothing could faze Pierce with the game in the balance, none of the Raptors multiple defenders - some bigger, some smaller and quicker - not even the hostile reception he got from Torontos electric, sellout crowd. Draped in white, the ACC was buzzing for nearly three hours in support of the home team, making things - or at least trying to - challenging for the visiting Nets. "The atmosphere of the crowd, the intensity, the noise, we need that every night," said Lowry, who finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and eight assists in his first playoff game since 2009. "I can tell you that the Brooklyn Nets were saying speak up, we cant hear, its loud in here. It definitely affected them a little bit." "Paul, the truth is youre old, ugly and slow," one fan, sitting behind the Nets bench, yelled at Pierce. Moments after enacting his reveenge, in the form of a nine-point fourth quarter, Pierce threw his headband into the stands, only to have it tossed back it him. Bradley Roby Blue Jersey. The Nets forward tossed it to another fan, and back it came again. "Third time was the charm," he joked after the game. "I really feed off the emotions of the crowd, especially on the road," said Pierce. "Its fun when you get to go on the road and beat a team. I think its more gratifying than winning at home. I love those moments." Ultimately that was the difference in Game 1. The Raptors shot 39 per cent, committed 19 turnovers and got little-to-no contribution from three of their starters, but those final minutes - the moment Brooklyn embraced, the moment Toronto seemed petrified of - is what really did them in. As Casey wisely pointed out, this series is a long way from over. DeRozan, like his young teammates, is a sponge. He and the rest of his team will watch film, theyll study and if they learn from their mistakes and evolve in those crucial moments of this most crucial time of the year theyll be ready to throw the next punch at the ACC for Tuesdays Game 2. "Believe me, this is nowhere near disappointing," Casey said. "We are a young team and we won the division. Were third in the conference. Were going to fight our butts off to win this series. This does not identify us as far as who we are if we dont come out on top. This is one game. The series is not over." Carrying the load While DeRozan and sophomore Terrence Ross struggled in their playoff debuts, 21-year-old Jonas Valanciunas looked like a polished veteran, utilizing his size and strength advantage to get Toronto going early in the game and dominate the boards throughout. "Ill tell you what, I thought Jonas played big time," Casey said of his young centre. "He really did. He grew up today and that was huge for us." With 17 points and 18 rebounds - the most by any Raptor in the postseason - the sophomore became the second player in franchise history to record a double-double in his first playoff game. Shot clock malfunction Early in the third quarter, the shot and game clocks above both baskets went blank, causing a short delay. After about five minutes, play resumed but in place of the two clocks - still powerless - Kuhn, with the use of a timer, called out time markers over the PA on each possession. "It was awkward," Vasquez said, playing without shot clocks for the remainder of the game. One flickered on directly after the final buzzer sounded. "It reminds me of back in the day when we used to play with the shot clock in the corner." "It was definitely tough because youre so used to looking up, being able to see the time," DeRozan added. "It was tough but we just tried to help each other." Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment issued a post-game statement explaining the incident. "We experienced a signal path failure," the MLSE release read. "Our backup system for the temporary shot clocked relied on the same source. New cables will be run tonight and tomorrow to ensure no issues arise on Tuesday and the NBA will inspect both the fixed and backup systems before Game 2." The stat There have been 453 best of seven series in the NBA, going into this season, and the winner of Game 1 has moved on 77 per cent of the time. The quote(s) "Guys, I used the wrong choice of words out there," said Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri, conducting a brief press conference at halftime to apologize for using profanity in an attempt to fire up the crowd, speaking to hundreds of fans outside the ACC before the game. "I apologize to the kids out there. Nothing against [the Nets], just trying to get the fans going. You guys know how I feel. I dont like them, but I apologize." "Well I feel the same way so, and Ive got his back," Vasquez said after the game, coming to the defence of Ujiri. "Hes part of the family. Thats all Ive got to say. Hes our guy and were going to go fight for him no matter what. We dont like any of them either. Thats how we feel. All of us." ' ' ' |
