Scherzer gives credit to A's hitters

DETROIT -- Although the Tigers have backed off their early suspicions that the A's were stealing signs during their four-game set in August, Oakland's manager Bob Melvin further denied any pitch-tipping happened in that series.

During those four games, the Tigers' four postseason starters gave up 22 runs in 20 innings, and the 34 runs posted by the Athletics in that set are the most the Tigers have allowed in any four-game stretch since June 2011.

"Anytime there's a number of guys on second base, you have the ability to steal some signs," Melvin said. "But it didn't happen in that series. We just had our best offensive series of the year. Against these guys, you wouldn't have expected that. But we just had a lot of momentum once we score a bunch of runs the first game."

Max Scherzer, chased after five innings with five earned runs on eight hits in the finale of that series, laughed when he was asked if A's hitters had a sense of what was coming.

"It sure felt like it," Scherzer said earlier this week. "It's just one of those things. That's baseball. They're a quality team and they were hot, and they beat us."