(Sports Network) - After enduring a rough month of August, the Detroit Tigers hope for better results when they begin September with the second of three straight games against the Oakland Athletics from McAfee Coliseum.

Detroit began August with a one-game lead over Cleveland in the American League Central standings, but now trails the Tribe by 5 1/2 games for first place after posting a lousy 11-18 record for the month. The Tigers closed out August with three losses in four games, including Friday's extra-inning setback to the Athletics in the opener of this series.

Dan Johnson doubled home pinch-runner J.J. Furmaniak in the 10th inning to lift Oakland to a 5-4 victory. Johnson added a solo homer earlier in the night for the A's, who have won two in a row following a five-game losing streak.

The Tigers sent the game into extra frames with a pair of runs off Oakland closer Huston Street, as Sean Casey's pinch-hit two-out RBI single knotted the score at 4-4.

Street (3-2) wound up getting the win, with Joel Zumaya (1-3) taking the loss for Detroit after surrendering back-to-back doubles by Mike Piazza and Johnson in the 10th.

Jack Cust and Jack Hannahan also had solo homers for Oakland, while starting pitcher Joe Blanton allowed just two runs and five hits over the first seven innings.

Detroit's slump has also placed the club three games behind the Yankees in the AL wild card race. The task doesn't figure to be any easier for the Tigers this afternoon, as they'll have to step to the plate against Oakland ace Dan Haren.

Haren enters today's tilt with an AL-best 2.72 earned run average and a 14-5 overall record, although the All-Star hurler hasn't been in top form as of late. He has surrendered five home runs over his last two starts, including a pair of long balls in Sunday's 7-4 loss at Toronto.

The right-hander was charged with five runs -- three earned -- over six innings against the Blue Jays despite racking up a season-high 10 strikeouts.

Haren has been sensational at home this year, however. In 14 Coliseum starts in 2007, the 26-year-old is 8-1 with a 2.56 ERA and a .216 batting average against.

The Pepperdine product is just 1-3 with a 4.68 ERA in five career regular- season outings versus Detroit, but has split a pair of decisions against the Tigers so far this year.

Detroit counters with an All-Star of its own in Justin Verlander, who regrouped from a subpar performance against the rival Indians with seven dominant innings to defeat the Yankees on Monday. The reigning AL Rookie of the Year limited New York to three hits and two walks while striking out six.

Five days earlier, Verlander was tagged for seven runs and a season-high 10 hits before exiting after four innings in an 11-8 loss to Cleveland.

Verlander won a head-to-head matchup with Haren on August 11 at Comerica Park, allowing just two runs and fanning seven over six innings in that game. He is 2-2 with a 2.87 ERA in five outings against Oakland in his brief career.

Oakland, which was swept by the Tigers in last October's best-of-seven AL Championship Series, has won five of the eight meetings between the teams this season.