Athletics, Giants avoid sweep

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 visiting Tigers 2-0 on 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 tonight (6:30 p.m., TNT) 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."

A's shortstop Stephen Drew made a tough play running to his left to stop Fielder's grounder in the fourth and then threw to first while still off balance and in motion.

Then, in the seventh, Cespedes cut over to make a diving catch on Fielder's liner to left field.

That delighted the yellow towel-waving sellout crowd of 37,090 in this blue-collar city.

"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."

Giants 2, Reds 1, 10 inn.: Hardly able to get a hit, San Francisco used a misplayed grounder to prolong its NL playoff series.

Third baseman Scott Rolen's two-out error in the 10th gave the visiting Giants the go-ahead run in a victory over Cincinnati, which couldn't shake 17 years of home postseason futility.

The Giants avoided a sweep in Game 3, cutting their division series deficit to 2-1.

Rolen, an eight-time Gold Glove winner, couldn't come up with Joaquin Arias' short-hop grounder, bobbled it and threw late to first.

"I've gone through the play many times in my mind between then and now, and I think I would play it the same way," Rolen said. "It hit my glove. I just couldn't get it to stick."

The Giants managed only three hits against Homer Bailey and Reds relievers, but got two of them in the 10th - along with a passed ball by Ryan Hanigan - to pull it out. San Francisco won despite striking out 16 times.

"We kept scratching and clawing down two games to none," reliever Jeremy Affeldt said. "That's the way it is in the playoffs."

Cincinnati finished with four hits, just one after the first inning.

Left-hander Barry Zito will pitch Game 4 today (1 p.m., TBS) for the Giants, who have won the last 11 times he started. The Reds have to decide whether to try ace Johnny Cueto, forced out of the opener in San Francisco on Saturday with spasms in his back and side.

Manager Dusty Baker said after the game that they hadn't decided whether to let Cueto try it, bring back Mat Latos on short rest again, or replace Cueto with Mike Leake, who wasn't on the division series roster.

The Reds haven't won a home playoff game since 1995, the last time they reached the NL championship series.