"He had some huge benders going out there," Oakland manager Ken Macha said. "When he's got that and a good fastball, like he did tonight, he's going to be tough to beat."

Mike Maroth, Detroit's 25-year-old lefty, has pitched reliably all year, and he's 0-8 after the A's squeaked by him 3-1 on Tuesday night. Five of Maroth's nine starts have been quality starts. Any pitcher who has ever felt the sting of paltry run support had to feel some sympathy for Maroth.

"That's tough. I honestly do feel for him," said Tuesday's winning pitcher Ted Lilly. "Tonight, he showed he's pretty gutty. I think he's a second-year guy, and I like the way he carries himself out there. He seems not to get real up or real down. He's not pumping his first one inning and hanging his head the next."

Oakland loaded the bases on two walks and a single with one out in the seventh. Steve Sparks replaced Maroth and got Byrnes to foul out before Miguel Tejada lined a tiebreaking, two-run double past Craig Monroe in left.

"Miguel has really improved in the last couple weeks, and that at-bat showed why," Macha said. "The inning before, he struck out on two bad pitches, but he hung in there against the knuckleball and got us a big hit."

The Tigers put runners at the corners with one out in the eighth, but Chad Bradford got Andres Torres to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Keith Foulke pitched a perfect ninth for his 11th save.

Oakland took a 1-0 lead in the third when Frank Menechino walked and scored on Byrnes' triple to the right-center scoreboard. Menechino got on base three times in just his ninth game of the season.

"It's tough to hit when you don't play every day, but I do the best I can," he said. "You just have to trust yourself, because you never get enough at-bats to know if you are swinging well or not."

Shane Halter tied it in the bottom half with a homer over the shortened fence in left field.

The A's got Erubiel Durazo to third with one out in the fourth, but Maroth got out of the inning with two groundouts.