Column: Tigers get done what they needed to in Game 1 win

• Justin Verlander scattered three hits and struck out 11 in seven innings
• The Tigers answered right back after Oakland scored in the top of the first
• Detroit held on for a 3-1 win

DETROIT — The plan worked perfectly.

Detroit Tigers starter Justin Verlander was on the mound, carving up the Oakland Athletics with an explosive fastball. Nobody should be this good — it's just not fair.

And Alex Avila was at the plate, feeling strong and healthy for the first time in a long time, pounding a homer to the opposite field.

And Andy Dirks went back to the warning track — oh, no! — and he caught a fly ball with his back against the wall. Hey, it's just a long out!

And Jose Valverde cruised through the ninth without anyone having to grab for the antacids.

And the fans were going crazy, waving white towels, which turned into victory flags, as the Tigers opened the American League Division Series with a crucial 3-1 victory on a cold, windy, gray Saturday evening before a charged-up crowd of 43,323 at Comerica Park.

This game meant everything for the Tigers. They set their rotation for Verlander to pitch Game 1 in Comerica Park and Game 5 in Oakland, and it was vital for Verlander to win the opener.

And he delivered something special.

"I think having experienced these type of atmospheres and knowing what to expect out of myself, the adrenaline, the angst, everything, it felt like I was able to corral that a little bit better and use it to my advantage," Verlander said.

Even though Verlander gave up a home run to open the game — Coco Crisp jacked the fourth pitch over the rightfield fence — it seemed to wake him up. Like a lion getting poked with a stick.

Every time Verlander got into trouble, he just turned up the intensity, flicked on his flamethrower and struck out the A's. One, two, three, four, five in a row at one point.

The crowd was going crazy, and Verlander seemed to feed off it. He started slowly but struck out 11, growing stronger as the game went on, sending the A's back to their dugout, pounding their bats in frustration.

A little love for Inge

The pregame atmosphere was off the charts — a white-towel wavin' frenzy of cheers and screams and standing ovations.

Shoot, even Brandon Inge got some love.

As the A's were introduced, the crowd cheered for the former Tiger that so many fans loved to hate — no boos could be heard from the press box.

Inge tipped his cap as he took a spot along the first-base line.

But the loudest cheers were saved for Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera, who can't do anything these days without the crowd starting to chant: "M-V-P! M-V-P!"

But all of the love excitement disappeared in a blink when Crisp smacked a 95-mph fastball over the fence.

Just like that, the crowd went silent, and the A's had a 1-0 lead. Oakland couldn't have asked for a better start against Verlander.

Verlander seemed to struggle with his emotions in that first inning, as he has in the past, but he got out of trouble.

"Early on … didn't have great control with really any of my pitches," Verlander said. "And then as the game went on, got better and better and started finding the zone a little bit more, and not just finding the zone but quality strikes and was able to execute and get some guys out."

No time to waste

The Tigers answered immediately.

Austin Jackson opened the bottom of the first inning by smashing the ball between shortstop and third base. Stephen Drew, the shortstop, dived for the ball and it glanced off his mitt into shallow leftfield.

Then, Jackson did something that doesn't show up in the stats but can change a game. He flew around first base and took a gamble by running all the way to second. Safe. It was a double. And suddenly, the Tigers had a great scoring opportunity.

You bunt, right?

And that's what Quintin Berry tried to do, but he couldn't get it down. Which was fortunate for the Tigers because the Human Sparkplug stopped trying to bunt and got a single. Suddenly, the Tigers had runners on the corners with nobody out.

"I had a job to do," Berry said. "I just tried to stay in there and get something and put it on the ground and find a hole somewhere."

The crowd was charged up again, and those white towels returned and that chant came back — "M-V-P! M-V-P!" — as Cabrera produced the tying run by hitting into a double play.

But still, it felt as if the Tigers wasted a great opportunity to blow the game open against a rookie pitcher.

The go-ahead run

The Tigers kept fighting, kept pecking away. And then, they got a little help. In the third, Berry came up with Omar Infante on second.

Berry worked the count full and hit a weak infield grounder. Jarrod Parker, the A's starting pitcher, pounced off the mound but he couldn't scoop up the ball — he looked like he was trying to scoop up Jell-O with tweezers — batting the ball away and was given an error. Berry was credited with a single, too, and Infante scored from second, giving the Tigers a 2-1 lead.

The closing act

After Verlander left after seven innings, manager Jim Leyland turned to his bullpen: Joaquin Benoit and Valverde.

It got seriously scary in the eighth when Brandon Moss crushed the ball to rightfield with a runner on base.

Hearts stopped. People gasped.

"At one moment, I thought it was gone," Benoit said.

Dirks snared it on the warning track.

"He made a good catch," Benoit said.

Yeah, and ice cream is good on hot, sunny days.

But these are the playoffs — folks were dressed in winter coats and hats — and it was more of a day for hot chocolate.

So now, the Tigers will play at 12:07 p.m. today in Game 2.

Doug Fister will be on the mound, and the A's will start another rookie, Tommy Milone.

Leyland doesn't believe in momentum, and he doesn't believe in the importance of winning Game 1. He just focuses on winning.

"It's pretty simple, really," Leyland said. "We've got to win two more, and they've got to win three. So it is what it is."

It is what it is.

But the Tigers won one they had to win.