Perennial underdogs the Oakland Athletics came close against the visiting Detroit Tigers but again fell short of reaching the American League Championship Series with a 3-0 loss in a deciding Game Five on Thursday.
The Tigers will now travel to the Boston Red Sox for Game One of the American League Championship Series on Saturday. The St Louis Cardinals will host the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game One of the National League Championship Series on Friday.
Meanwhile, Billy Beane (Oakland GM) loses the last game of the season again.
For the A's it was deja vu all over again as Tigers ace Justin Verlander shut them down in the showdown game just as he had last year. Verlander carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning before Yoenis Cespedes singled. Verlander gave up two hits in all with one walk and 10 strikeouts over eight innings.
The defeat stung the A's, who had claimed the AL West title for a second successive season despite having only a $71 million payroll (27th out of 30) after having the lowest in the majors last year at $59.5 million.
After Verlander gave way to closer Joaquin Benoit in the ninth, Oakland put two men on base with a double by Jed Lowrie and a hit batsman. Seth Smith, a home run away from tying the game, flew out to right field to end it.
"We're one pitch away from tying that ball game," said Australian closer Grant Balfour. "I'm kind of lost for words."
The A's put their hopes on 23-year-old rookie starting pitcher Sonny Gray, who had been dazzling in his Game Two duel with Verlander. Verlander threw seven shutout innings in that contest. But Gray did one better, going eight scoreless innings in a game won 1-0 by Oakland in the bottom of the ninth.
The young right-hander was not quite as sharp on Thursday and paid for one glaring mistake - an inside fastball to Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera, who knocked it over the fence in left to give Detroit a 2-0 lead in the fourth.
Oakland manager Bob Melvin said: "At the end of the day, he basically just gives up a home run to Cabrera. He pitched fine tonight. When you don't score a run and only get a few hits, you have to be perfect."
