Tuesday, October 10, 2006 at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, California Oakland was 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position, while Detroit turned four double plays. Tigers first baseman Sean Casey left the game in the bottom of the sixth inning due to an apparent leg injury. Brandon Inge homered with two outs in the third off Barry Zito, who allowed a double and two walks to load the bases before Magglio Ordóñez's single scored another run. Next inning, Iván Rodríguez hit a leadoff home run off Zito, who then walked Craig Monroe. Marcus Thames then hit into a forceout, advancing to second on D'Angelo Jiménez's error and scoring on Inge's double. Inge moved to third on Curtis Granderson's groundout, then scored on Plácido Polanco's single. Oakland avoided a shutout when Milton Bradley doubled to lead off the eighth off Joel Zumaya, moved to third on Frank Thomas's groundout, and scored on Jay Payton's groundout.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, California Oakland struck first in Game 2 when Mark Kotsay doubled in the first with one out off Justin Verlander, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Milton Bradley's single, but Detroit tied it when Carlos Guillén doubled to lead off the second off Esteban Loaiza, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on Craig Monroe's sacrifice fly. In the third, Kotsay doubled with two outs off Verlander before Bradley homered to put Oakland up 3-1. In the fourth, Detroit loaded the bases on two singles and a walk with one out off Loaiza before Monroe's single scored a run, Alexis Gomez's 2-run single gave Detroit the lead, and Brandon Inge's sacrifice fly put the Tigers up 5-3. In the sixth, Monroe doubled off Loaiza with two outs before Gomez homered to put Detroit up 7-3. Eric Chavez's leadoff home run off Verlander in the bottom of the inning cut the lead to 7-4. Next inning, Bradley homered with two outs off Wilfredo Ledezma to make it 7-5 Detroit, but the Tigers got that run back in the ninth on Granderson's leadoff home run off Huston Street. In the bottom of the inning, Oakland got three straight two-out singles off Todd Jones to load the bases, but Frank Thomas flew out to center to end the game. Since the ALCS has been increased to a seven-game series, no team has come back to win the series after losing the first two games at home.
Game 3
Friday, October 13, 2006 at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan Oakland infielder Mark Kiger, who was called up from the minors for the ALCS following an injury to Mark Ellis, entered the game in the eighth inning as a defensive replacement for second basemanD'Angelo Jiménez, thereby becoming the first player in modern baseball history to make his major-league debut in a postseason game. Kenny Rogers also continued to dominate, not allowing the A's to score once for his second victory in the postseason. Curtis Granderson walked to lead off the first off Rich Harden, moved to third on Craig Monroe's single, and scored on Plácido Polanco's single. Magglio Ordóñez's sacrifice fly made it 2-0 Tigers. Monroe's leadoff home run in the fifth off Harden made it 3-0. Todd Jones picked up his second save with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Game 4
Saturday, October 14, 2006 at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan In Game 4, Mark Kotsay walked with one out in the first off Jeremy Bonderman, then scored on Milton Bradley's double. One out later, Bradley scored on Eric Chavez's double to put Oakland up 2-0. Jay Payton homered in the fourth to make it 3–0. In the fifth, however, Brandon Inge singled off Dan Haren, moving to second on an error. After moving to third on a groundout, Inge scored on a double by Curtis Granderson, who then scored on Craig Monroe's double. Magglio Ordóñez homered in the sixth to tie the game at three. In the bottom of the ninth, Huston Street got two outs, then allowed back-to-back singles to Polanco and Monroe before Ordóñez launched a three-run walk-off home run to win the game and advance the Tigers to the 2006 World Series. Ordóñez's blast was the first pennant-winning home run since Aaron Boone's in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS and came on the 30th Anniversary of Chris Chambliss' pennant-winning walk-off in Game 5 of the 1976 ALCS.
