Max Scherzer strikes out 11 as Tigers beat A's

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Max Scherzer struck out 11 in seven innings last night as the Tigers held on to beat the A's, 3-2, in the opener of their American League Division Series rematch.

The only guy who could get anything going against Scherzer was Yoenis Cespedes, who had a triple in the second and a two-run homer in the seventh, but that wasn't enough to beat the likely Cy Young Award winner.

Scherzer (21-3), the majors' lone 20-game winner, allowed three hits and walked two. "He's always tough. He won 21 games," said A's manager Bob Melvin, whose team struck out 16 times. "Scherzer's a strikeout guy. He's a swing-and-miss guy."

Cabrera and Alex Avila each had a first-inning RBI single against 40-year-old Bartolo Colon, whose winless stretch against the Tigers extended to 101/2 years. He is 0-8 in 14 starts against the Tigers since a victory on April 13, 2003.

Scherzer, who threw 118 pitches, retired 16 of his first 18 batters and was nearly untouchable before Cespedes' homer. The strikeouts were Scherzer's most in seven postseason starts.

Manager Jim Leyland chose Scherzer over Justin Verlander, who goes in Game 2 tonight against 23-year-old rookie Sonny Gray in only his 11th career start. Verlander beat the A's in Games 1 and 5 of their postseason series last October.

Colon put himself in a hole from the start, surrendering Austin Jackson's leadoff double and hitting Torii Hunter with a pitch. Cabrera singled up the middle for the first run and Prince Fielder grounded into a double play to bring home another before Avila added an RBI single.

The Tigers' Jhonny Peralta, who made the playoff roster a week after completing a 50-game suspension for ties to the Biogenesis lab accused of distributing performance-enhancing drugs, lined out as a pinch hitter in the ninth.