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Coco Crisp’s error hangs over Oakland as A’s fall into 2-0 ALDS hole (Video)

The Oakland Athletics were lifted into the ALDS thanks, in part, to a big two-run error that Josh Hamilton made in center field on the last day of the regular season.

Now they're facing an exit from that same ALDS thanks to a similar misplay from Coco Crisp:

Crisp's error on Miguel Cabrera's fly ball in the seventh inning of Oakland's 5-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers in Sunday's Game 2 of the ALDS held some similarities to Hamilton's miscue. Mostly in that a clean play by Crisp would have ended the inning and two runs came into score when the catch wasn't made. And like Hamilton, plenty of folks are talking about it after the game.

What's different is that Crisp had a tougher play to make because he was playing Cabrera deep and the distance he was forced to run put him in a weird no man's land in which the choice between a regular grab and a basket catch was a tough one. Crisp chose the basket attempt and it looked like his momentum led to the error, even though his second effort almost reeled the bouncing baseball back for an out.

"I had to make a decision between turning my glove over and going for the basket catch or trying to slide into the ball," Crisp told reporters. "I've made the catch both ways, and obviously this time, I made the wrong decision."

Crisp's error also played a bigger role in the game's outcome. While the A's poured it on to the Rangers after Hamilton's error for a 12-5 division-clinching victory — they hit Texas pitching before and after — the impact of Crisp's play was more visible in the final outcome. The Tigers' lineup had managed only one run off A's pitching to that point and a successful out would have given Oakland a 2-1 lead with six outs to go.

Instead, the ball bounced to the Comerica Park turf, Austin Jackson and Omar Infante came around for a 3-2 Tigers lead and the A's were on their way to needing three straight wins back home to continue their season.

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