Putting the go-ahead run on base via intentional walk generally isn't done, but O's manager Showalter didn't get where he is today by adhering to scripts. Down 2-0, Detroit opened the 9th with consecutive doubles off Britton, scoring a run. After Holaday's K, a ballsy Showalter walked Castellanos and set up the force—even though Castellanos scoring would put the Tigers ahead. A brilliant move in hindsight—the next batter (PH Hernan Perez) grounded into a series-ending double play.

Though Baltimore's JJ Hardy had opened inning #8 with a bomb and Alejandro De Aza followed it with a double, Detroit's deficit stood at merely two runs—if they could wiggle out of the jam, it was still anybody's game. SP Max Scherzer was replaced by RP Joba Chamberlain; his first hitter was Adam Jones. Jones grounded to Romine at SS, but he couldn't handle it—De Aza scored, as did six more of his teammates in a nightmarish (if you're pro-Tiger) 8th.