The Detroit Tigers had their backs to the wall all night but battled to a thrilling 8-6 win over the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday to stave off elimination and force a deciding Game 5 in their American League Division Series.

The tense victory over the visiting A's tied the best-of-five series at 2-2 and set up a do-or-die showdown in Oakland on Thursday, with the prize for the winner a berth in the AL Championship Series.

"We just kept battling away and battling away and we finally got some huge hits," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland.