DETROIT, May 13 (UPI) -- Miguel Tejada had a tie-breaking two-run double in the seventh inning Tuesday nught to support a strong outing from Ted Lilly as the Oakland Athletics posted a 3-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
Tejada entered batting just .208 and was 1-for-14 against Detroit this season. But the one hit was a leadoff homer in the bottom of the 11th inning on April 22 that gave the Athletics a 6-5 victory.
The reigning American League Most Valuable Player was hitless in three at-bats before facing Tigers reliever Steve Sparks with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning. Tejada lined a 1-1 offering down the left field line to give the Athletics a 3-1 lead.
Lilly (3-2) ended a brief two-game losing slide by yielding just one run and three hits in 7 1/3 innings. Chad Bradford got Andres Torres to ground into a double play to close the eighth inning and closer Keith Foulke struck out a pair in a perfect ninth for his 11th save in 13 chances.
Detroit starter Mike Maroth (0-8) surrendered three runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings and continues to be plagued by poor run support. The Tigers have scored just 22 runs in Maroth's nine starts.
