Tigers shrug off earlier sign-stealing allegations

OAKLAND -- If the Tigers had any suspicions that A's hitters were picking up something from their pitchers during their four-game series in August, whether signs or pitch-tipping, they aren't talking about it.

Two days after manager Jim Leyland backed away from quotes at the end of August saying he was suspicious the A's were getting something, players showed no signs that they were being tapped.

"The thing is, every pitcher has different sets of signs and stuff like that," catcher Alex Avila said. "And most of the time, you're changing the signs every inning, so that's not something we're too concerned about.

"Obviously you look at it, because there are times teams will pick up signs, steal signs, stuff like that. We do the same thing. Every team does it. You have to make sure you have your bases covered and make sure you're prepared for that situation, but looking at that series, there wasn't anything glaring, or something that was like, 'Oh, that's why.' No, we didn't play as well that series."

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. "It's just one of those things. That's baseball. They're a quality team and they were hot, and they beat us."