- The worst part for Anibal Sanchez is he got ahead in the count to Brandon Moss before Moss clubbed his home run. The second home run, by Seth Smith, was wind driven to left, but the conditions should work well for the Tigers because they have more right-handed thunder, at least by reputation, than the A's.
- Jim Leyland had little choice but to put left-hander Jose Alvarez into the game after Sanchez faltered. He is trying to flip the A's lineup to right-handed hitters, so he can make more effective use of his right-handed oriented bullpen late in the game. It wouldn't have been smart to use Drew Smyly at that point. He is one of the Tigers' set up guys.
- Leading off the fifth, it would have more ideal for Jose Iglesias to try to reach base than take such a big cut at the ball. He does get out of the box quickly. The Tigers desperately needed a base runner down three runs. Yet, he was swinging from the heels as a hitter with limited power.
- Those criticizing Leyland for not going to Rick Porcello to start the fifth inning are guilty of having ultimate 20-20 hindsight. It was a tie game. Sanchez is the AL ERA champ. It would have been a bizarre move to take him out of the game at that point.