Phil Coke.jpg

Phil Coke, pictured pitching last week against the Los Angeles Angels, had a rough night Tuesday night after retiring the first two batters he faced in the ninth inning.

(AP File Photo)

DETROIT -- In the end, the Detroit Tigers did not lose the game. Phil Coke, despite another rocky outing in a season that is off to an inauspicious start, hadn't lost his sense of humor.

Coke retired the first two hitters he faced in the ninth inning Tuesday night before surrendering three runs and being chased with one out remaining in what turned out to be

.

Coke was in to put the finishing touches on a game the Tigers appeared to have in hand when he entered with his team leading by five runs. Coke struck out the first two batters he faced before allowing a double and a single as the White Sox cut the lead to 8-4.

Coke got ahead of Adam Dunn with an 0-2 count, then had a slider tail back toward Dunn, who smashed it into the right field bleachers for a two-run home run to make it 8-6.

Coke referred to the pitch as an "incidental two-seamer" while explaining how the pitch tailed back toward Dunn and into his wheelhouse. Someone suggested that Coke might have meant "accidental" instead of "incidental."

"No, it was an incident, because he hit that a long way," Coke said. "Somebody almost died. There was an incident in the outfield seats. Somebody almost died. Seriously. I'm being totally honest, because he tattooed that ball. He really did."

Just like that, the Tigers were up by just two runs. Just like that, Joba Chamberlain was in the game with the save on the line. Just like that, Chamberlain walked the first batter he faced, and just like that closer Joe Nathan was warming up in the bullpen.

Eventually, Chamberlain recorded the final out. He got the save. The Tigers won.

"It didn't go exactly as planned," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said, "but we got through it."

Chamberlain had warmed up an inning earlier, so Ausmus thought he could get ready more quickly once things started heading south in the ninth.

"We got to two outs quickly," he said. "Because Joba had already heated up, we got him up because he could get ready quicker. If I did it over, I'd tell Joe to get up -- or tell Joe to be ready if it turned into a save situation."

Instead, it was Chamberlain who earned his first save of the season. And it was Coke -- who has allowed six earned runs on eight hits in four innings this season -- who was talking to reporters after the game.

Coke struck out Leury Garcia and John Danks swinging to start the inning. Marcus Semien then reached out and doubled to left on a 1-1 changeup. Coke wanted the pitch to be a little bit lower.

"I threw him a changeup and he caught it out front," Coke said. "Right as it was starting to dive is where he hit the ball. That's why it had that looping movement away from (Nick) Castellanos the way it did. OK. Tip my hat."

Paul Konerko singled on a 1-0 fastball to score Garcia.

"I threw a sinker away to Paul Konerko," Coke continued. "He leaned out and got the bat to it as it was moving. OK."

Coke clearly felt that the 0-2 pitch to Dunn was the turning point.

"Then the slider that was called to Adam Dunn just kind of came back to him," Coke continued. "Instead of having a good finish that it had against the first two hitters I faced, it came back. I didn't get my hand on top of the ball."

Dunn entered the game 2-for-6 with two singles, four strikeouts and three walks against Coke.

Coke is generally brutally honest in his analysis of his own work. So it sounded as if this was one of those nights where he didn't think he got the results he deserved, that he thought he pitched better than the results indicated. But when asked if that's how he felt, Coke rejected the notion.

"I don't know if that's fair to say because it doesn't matter what I say," he said. "The results are the results and people are going to judge the way they're going to judge, so it doesn't really matter what I say. I mean, I understand. I totally understand.

"It wasn't the way I expected it to finish up either. What else do you say about it?"

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