Gee, that's odd. I thought the A's were just going to go away quietly. You think you know baseball, and then something like this happens.

The A's did not go quietly. They were playing in an elimination game, and it sure looked like they were about to go quietly. They were quiet all night, staying away from first base as if it were covered in gonorrhea. And when they finally broke through for a little something against Tigers pitching, they stranded the runners.

In the ninth, though, Josh Reddick led the inning off with a seeing-eye single just under Omar Infante's glove and into right field. Josh Donaldson boomed a double to left that just missed going out, putting runners on second and third with no one out. Seth Smith tied the game with a double to right, putting the winning run on second.

George Kottaras popped out on the first pitch, keeping Smith where he was, and Cliff Pennington struck out looking for two outs. On the first pitch of his at-bat, though, Coco Crisp lined a single into right field, bringing Smith around to score. And there will be a Game 5 after all.

Whoa. A's.