Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
Miguel Cabrera, the reigning A.L. most valuable player, rounding first base after his two-run homer in the fourth inning gave Justin Verlander all the support he needed.
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Detroit Tigers celebrated in a haze of smoke, pitcher Justin Verlander among those puffing on cigars between smiles and hugs. The ceiling dripped the spent remains of 15 cases of sparkling wine. A stereo thumped.
Down the hall, hushed in disappointment, the Oakland Athletics were handed brown boxes and packing tape, and quietly loaded their belongings for the winter.
The American League division series ended in the usual dichotomy of emotions, but this one seemed more familiar than most. Verlander continued his playoff mastery of the A's, leading the Tigers to a Game 5 division-series victory in Oakland for the second straight season.
Verlander allowed two hits in eight innings, guiding Detroit to a 3-0 victory that sent the Tigers to the league championship series for the third season in a row and extended an era of playoff heartache for the A's, losers of six consecutive Game 5s since 2000, five of them at home.
This one came 364 days after Verlander beat the A's in another Game 5, a complete-game performance that Verlander called the best of his career. He nearly duplicated it Thursday, taking a no-hit bid into the seventh inning.
"It's pretty exciting to have gone out there twice in that scenario and done a good job," Verlander said, his hair and clothes soaked in alcohol-free sparkling wine sprayed throughout the locker room.
Miguel Cabrera's two-run homer in the fourth inning provided all the scoring support Verlander needed. The Tigers will face the Red Sox in the best-of-seven A.L.C.S., beginning Saturday in Boston.
Verlander, the winner of the 2011 A.L. Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards, has been a steady force atop the Detroit rotation for several years. He made the All-Star team in 2013 for the sixth time, but his numbers fell slightly — 13-12 with a 3.46 earned run average — thanks mostly to a smattering of uncommonly short outings in May and June. Verlander's status as staff ace was bequeathed to his teammate Max Scherzer (21-3, 2.90).
But in the past month, and especially in the postseason, Verlander, 30, has looked as good as ever. After beating the A's twice in a division series last year, including a four-hit shutout in Game 5, he pitched seven shutout innings in Game 2 last Saturday, which Oakland won, 1-0.
Thursday's game extended Verlander's scoreless string against the A's in the playoffs to 30 innings, a postseason record against one team. Christy Mathewson of the New York Giants shut out the Philadelphia A's for 28 straight innings.
"Sometimes pitchers just match up against a particular team and you just can't figure it out," Detroit Manager Jim Leyland said before the game.
The trend continued, Verlander sprinkling 80-mile-per-hour curveballs with a ruthless battery of fastballs high into the 90s. His bid for a perfect game ended with one out in the sixth, when Josh Reddick walked after strikes on the first two pitches. Verlander's bid to join Don Larsen and Roy Halladay as the only pitchers to throw a postseason no-hitter ended in the seventh as Yoenis Cespedes hit a two-out bouncer to the left of Detroit shortstop Jhonny Peralta.
In four playoff starts against Oakland the past two seasons, Verlander has struck out 43 batters and allowed one earned run.
"He did it here last year, he's done it on several occasions, and he did it once again," Leyland said.
With Verlander tiring after 111 pitches, closer Joaquin Benoit pitched a shaky ninth. He allowed a two-out double to Jed Lowrie and struck Cespedes with a pitch before enticing Seth Smith into a game-ending fly ball to right.
It is the third year in a row that the Tigers have won a Game 5 in a division series — over the Yankees in 2011 and the A's in 2012 and 2013.
Oakland, desperate to exorcise its postseason demons, only extended them. During the low-budget, hidden-value "Moneyball" era of General Manager Billy Beane, the A's have treated their loyal following to a string of surprising regular-season successes. They reached the postseason this year for the seventh time in 14 seasons, a standard that few franchises can match.
But the A's added to their burden of playoff disappointment. Since 2000, the A's have had 13 opportunities to clinch a series with one victory. They have lost 12 of those games.
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