"The Detroit Tigers came to Oakland in first place, and they left town that way, but they gained few admirers. They irritated manager Jim Leyland with their lack of clutch hitting, and they were no match for a startling power display Sunday as the A's closed out the three-game series with a 9-4 win.

Heading into this beautiful East Bay afternoon, the A's had belted only one three-run homer in a month. By day's end, they had a pair, by Jack Cust and Landon Powell, along with a solo shot from Cliff Pennington and Cust's second homer of the day. To top off this venture into the unlikely, they beat the Central Division leaders with journeyman Brett Tomko, who pitched a solid six innings.

Cust's performance deserved a bigger stage, something more relevant than Oakland's stadium of the doomed. It belonged in Boston, Colorado or anywhere else the home fans are consumed by a pennant race. As it was, there were 17,690 witnesses to the type of day you'd associate with the Ryan Howards and Prince Fielders of the world.

Stepping to the plate in a 1-1 tie in the third, Cust hit one of the most impressive opposite-field homers of the season. Facing Rick Porcello, touted by the Tigers as the leading candidate for American League Rookie of the Year, Cust imposed his dead-uppercut swing on a fastball and sent it several rows deep into the bleachers above the out-of-town scoreboard in left-center - way, way out.

In the sixth, with Porcello still out there, Cust came back with a searing line drive to dead right field, a solo shot that left the impression of a speeding bullet. Nobody around baseball pays much attention to Cust, given the Oakland malaise and his .240 batting average, but when he connects, it's one of the prettiest sights in the game.

The Tigers' afternoon didn't look so bad on paper, including home runs by Curtis Granderson and Miguel Cabrera (career No. 200), but in truth, it's a good thing they gave utilityman Ryan Raburn a start Friday night (when he homered twice). Beyond that, they came up badly short, and lost a road series for the 10th consecutive time. When Detroit writers mentioned the lack of hitting to Leyland, he snapped, "That's been a problem for us all year.""