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Oakland, Calif. • These Oakland Athletics never count themselves out — down and doubted is their dogma.

Brett Anderson outdueled fellow postseason first-timer Anibal Sanchez and the upstart A's were stellar on defense all over the diamond, avoiding another playoff sweep by Detroit by beating the Tigers 2-0 Tuesday night in their AL division series.

The A's cut their deficit in the best-of-five matchup to 2-1.

Coco Crisp, whose misplay dearly cost Oakland in Game 2, saved a likely home run by Prince Fielder with a leaping catch at the top of the center-field wall in the second — and the A's will play another day in this improbable season full of remarkable rallies.

"You see him hit it and you just kind of put your head down a little bit because you think you just gave up a homer," Anderson said. "Then you see him plow through there and catch the ball and it kind of kick starts you to go out there and make pitches."

Yoenis Cespedes hit an RBI single in the first inning and Seth Smith homered later. That was plenty on a night Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera, Fielder and the Tigers' high-priced offense were shut down by the low-budget A's.

Tigers 16-game winner Max Scherzer will try to close out the series in Game 4 Wednesday night against A's rookie A.J. Griffin. Detroit swept the A's in the 2006 AL championship series.

Fielder was the biggest victim of Oakland's spot-on defense, robbed three times. First by Crisp, Oakland's most experienced player whose blunder on Cabrera's fly allowed two runs to score in a 5-4 loss Sunday in Detroit.

Crisp let out a big "Whoo!" after raising his arm to signal he'd made the grab.

"Coco's catch, the ball was out of the ballpark and it came back," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "The key to that play was he was playing deep and that enabled him to get into a spot to get up and make the catch. And it was a great catch, no doubt about it."

"It's frustrating. But it's a good team you're playing," Fielder said. "They're going to make those plays, that's why they're here." —

Athletics 2, Tigers 0

Detroit AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

A.Jackson cf 3 0 0 0 1 2 .167

Infante 2b 4 0 0 0 0 3 .250

Mi.Cabrera 3b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .333

Fielder 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .083

D.Young dh 3 0 1 0 0 1 .222

Jh.Peralta ss 2 0 2 0 1 0 .444

Dirks lf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .222

A.Garcia rf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .000

G.Laird c 3 0 0 0 0 2 .000

Totals 29 0 4 0 2 11

Oakland AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Crisp cf 4 1 1 0 0 0 .231

Drew ss 2 0 0 0 2 0 .182

Cespedes lf 4 0 1 1 0 1 .333

Moss 1b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .100

Reddick rf 3 0 0 0 0 0 .100

Donaldson 3b 3 0 2 0 0 0 .300

S.Smith dh 3 1 1 1 0 0 .125

D.Norris c 3 0 0 0 0 1 .000

Pennington 2b 2 0 0 0 1 1 .429

Totals 27 2 5 2 3 4

Detroit 000 000 000 — 0 4 0

Oakland 100 010 00x — 2 5 0

LOB—Detroit 4, Oakland 4. HR—S.Smith (1), off A.Sanchez. RBIs—Cespedes (2), S.Smith (1). CS—D.Norris (1).

Runners left in scoring position—Detroit 1 (A.Garcia) Oakland 1 (Reddick). RISP—Detroit 0 for 2 Oakland 1 for 3.

GIDP—Infante, Fielder, Reddick.

DP—Detroit 1 (Infante, Jh.Peralta, Fielder) Oakland 2 (Donaldson, Pennington, Moss), (Drew, Moss).

Detroit IP H R ER BB SO ERA

A.Sanchez L, 0-1

61⁄3 5 2 2 2 3 2.84

Dotel 2⁄3 0 0 0 0 1 0.00

Coke 2⁄3 0 0 0 1 0 0.00

Porcello 1⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

Oakland IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Bre.Anderson W, 1-0

6 2 0 0 2 6 0.00

R.Cook H, 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 4.50

Doolittle H, 1 1 0 0 0 0 3 0.00

Balfour S, 1-1 1 1 0 0 0 1 5.40

Inherited runners-scored—Dotel 1-0, Porcello 1-0.

Umpires—Home, Dana DeMuth First, Eric Cooper Second, Wally Bell Third, Scott Barry Right, Mark Wegner Left, Jim Reynolds.

T—2:33. A—37,090 (35,067).