A’s stave off elimination behind Brett Anderson’s comeback, beat Tigers 1-0

If that looks familiar, it should. It’s the same lineup the A’s have used for each of the first two games of the series. The A’s have scored five runs in the two games using this lineup, but perhaps hope for them can be found in the game in which they faced Sanchez, September 20 in Detroit. The A’s scored six runs in 5⅔ innings off Sanchez; Smith homered off him. Smith has two career homers against Sanchez and is 6-for-13 in a small-sample-size career against him.

This is the same lineup that Jim Leyland put on the field for Game 2 in Detroit. Brett Anderson made just six major-league starts this year, but one of them -- the last one, in fact -- was against the Tigers September 19 in Detroit. Anderson threw 43 pitches before being taken out after 2⅓ innings, having allowed three hits, three walks and three runs. He’ll have to be better than that Tuesday night, or the A’s will head home for the winter. Current Tigers are 14-for-50 (.280) against Anderson.