Gästeforum » ERA in 32 regular-season starts in his return, an

DETROIT -- Tommy Milone pitched five innings Tuesday night and walked away with a complete-game victory. Not bad at all. Milone settled down after a slow start and Brandon Moss hit a tiebreaking two-run homer off Justin Verlander, leading the Oakland Athletics to a 6-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers in a game cut short by rain. Seth Smith hit a leadoff homer in the sixth, and Oakland had the bases loaded with no one out when the tarp was pulled on the field due to the weather. It was called after an 80-minute delay. Milone (10-9) allowed three runs in the first, and then pitched four scoreless innings. The left-hander improved to 2-2 with a 4.97 ERA in his last six starts. "Ive had some five-inning complete games in the minors, but Ive never had one in the majors," Milone said. "That was a nice break." Oakland manager Bob Melvin thought about going to closer Grant Balfour when the rain picked up in the fifth inning. But Milone retired the top of Detroits lineup in order. "I was thinking about that, because it was really starting to rain hard, and I knew the forecast wasnt good," he said. "I was going to go to the bullpen pretty quickly if Tommy got into trouble." Detroit dropped its second straight game, but the biggest concern was another sluggish outing for Verlander (12-10), who was charged with four runs, three earned, and four hits in five innings. The right-hander, who won the AL Cy Young Award and MVP honour in 2011, is 0-2 with a 5.00 ERA in his last four starts. But the Tigers have a comfortable lead in the AL Central and Verlander is hoping to use the next month to figure out whats wrong. "My deadline right now is the playoffs," he said. Verlander and Milone each got off to a slow start, combined for 78 pitches during a 45-minute first inning. Oakland pushed across two runs before Verlander recorded an out. Coco Crisp had a leadoff walked and Josh Donaldson singled. The runners moved up on a wild pitch and scored on Jed Lowries bloop double to right. Seth Smith had a two-out walk before Verlander retired Alberto Callaspo for the final out. The 44 pitches for Verlander were the most he had ever thrown in an inning. "Even in that inning, there were times that I felt like I had really good stuff, but I couldnt control it," Verlander said. "Id get in a rhythm for a couple pitches, and then get out of sync again." The game was tied before Milone got an out. With a steady rain beginning to fall, Detroits first four batters reached. Prince Fielder had a two-run single, and Miguel Cabrera came home when Omar Infantes routine grounder to second went under Callaspos glove for an error. Milone then shut down Detroit for the rest of the night. "I dont exactly know what changed, but something worked," he said. "I couldnt get comfortable in the first inning, especially from the stretch, but once I got back into the windup in the second, I was able to go after guys." Verlander ran into more trouble when Moss walked with two out in the third and hustled around to score on Yoenis Cespedes tying double down the left-field line on an 0-2 pitch. The Athletics struck again with two out in the fifth. Moss hit a drive to centre for his 22nd homer. "That was probably the hardest rain Ive ever pitched in," Verlander said. "I thought I could grip a changeup, but it came out flat and he crushed it." Bruce Rondon replaced Verlander in the sixth, and Smith hit his second pitch over the scoreboard in right-centre for a 6-3 lead. The next three batters reached on two singles and a walk, but then the rain became too heavy for play to continue. "That worked out really well for us, because we didnt have to use the bullpen," Melvin said. "We did a great job against Verlander -- we were patient and we were able to really boost his pitch count. We only got the two runs in the first, but we made him throw 40-some pitches, and thats probably why we were able to add on in the later innings." Rondon had been checked by trainer Kevin Rand earlier in the inning, and appeared to be favouring his right leg as he came off the field. NOTES: The Tigers activated C Alex Avila from the concussion disabled list and optioned C Bryan Holaday to Triple-A Toledo. ... Detroit had been hoping to get reliever Octavio Dotel (elbow) back by Sept. 1, but he had to leave Tuesdays rehab outing with Toledo after being hit by a comebacker from the first batter he faced. ... Melvin confirmed Bartolo Colon (groin) will start Thursday afternoon against Detroit. Brett Anderson (foot) is also close to returning from the disabled list, but will go to the bullpen when he is activated. Raheem Sterling England Jersey . 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The appointment of Boullier continues the behind-the-scenes restructuring at McLaren, who recently brought back former team principal Ron Dennis as its new chief executive.ARLINGTON, Texas - Colby Lewis and his surgically repaired hip are staying in the Texas Rangers rotation.The Rangers on Thursday finalized a $4 million, one-year deal with the 35-year-old right-hander who finished strong last season after his unprecedented hip surgery for a major league pitcher.Lewis, their most successful post-season pitcher, had surgery in July 2012 to repair a torn flexor tendon in his right elbow. His comeback from that was thwarted by the troublesome hip that had bothered him for some time before he had a resurfacing procedure in August 2013 that was just short of a full hip replacement.I just feel like its back to normal. Theres no pain, theres no consciously thinking about it, Lewis said. It kind of came together in the second half. ... I was able to go deeper in ball games, and a lot more quality starts. Thats all I want to do this next year.His return gives the Rangers three expected starters, with Lewis joining Japanese ace Yu Darvish and left-hander Derek Holland.With baseballs winter meetings upcoming next week, general manager Jon Daniels would like to add another proven starter, through free agency or a trade. The fifth spot will be left open for competition among several young pitchers in the system, some who have already made a number of starts for the Rangers.Lewis was 10-14 with a 5.18 ERA in 29 starts last season, but had a 3.86 ERA with two complete games while averaging 6 2-3 innings his last 13 starts after the All-Star break last summer.You saw what he did in the second half, pretty consistent to what hes alwaays done when hes been here, Daniels said.ddddddddddddLewis was a first-round supplemental choice of the Rangers during the 1999 draft and made his big league debut in 2002. He pitched for Detroit and Oakland and spent two years in Japan before returning to Texas in 2010. He posted a 3.72 ERA in 32 regular-season starts in his return, and won Game 6 of the AL championship game against the New York Yankees that sent Texas to the first of consecutive World Series. Lewis is 4-1 with a 2.34 ERA in eight post-season starts.I feel like Ive always been a Ranger, even though Ive bounced around a little bit, Lewis said. This is home.Notes: New manager Jeff Banister had his first meeting with Darvish and watched him work out Thursday. Got to see some athleticism in a man that got after it pretty good, Banister said. Darvish missed the last seven weeks of the season with inflammation in his right elbow. Darvish had an MRI and an exam by team physician Dr. Keith Meister last week. ... Slugger Prince Fielder played in only 42 games, and none after May 16, in his first season with Texas before a cervical fusion of two disks in his neck. Fielder is now working out five days a week in Orlando. Its a full workout, its not a rehab program, Daniels said. Fielder is expected to arrive at spring training in February with no limitations. .... LHP Michael Kirkman has signed a minor league contract that includes an invitation to major league spring training. Kirkman became a free agent after Texas didnt tender him a contract before Tuesday nights deadline. ' ' '