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DET@TOR: Inge's double scores two in the ninth

TORONTO -- Tigers manager Jim Leyland had good things to say about the effort by Phil Coke.

He had kept the Tigers in the game, pitching six innings, and some of the 11 hits that he surrendered had found holes.

But as he sat at his locker dejectedly, Coke (1-5) would have none of it.

Asked if he found little consolation from allowing only one run after a three-run first, he said, "You nailed it."

Then he tried to answer a couple of other questions before finally saying, "Sorry guys, but I'm not much for conversation this evening. You guys are going to have to leave me for a little bit."

A few minutes earlier, Leyland had spoken words of appreciation. "He really hung in there and did okay," he said. "I mean he gave up some hits that were just hit in exactly the right place. Some hard-hit balls, but they got a couple of hits early that were hit in the right place."

Meanwhile, the Tigers had only four hits in 6 1/3 innings against right-hander Jesse Litsch (3-2), who struck out a career-best nine.

"Listen, he pitched good, struck out a lot of guys," Leyland said. "We didn't do a whole lot with him."

Toronto had a season-high 15 hits and every player in the lineup had at least one hit. J.P. Arencibia, Adam Lind and Corey Patterson each drove in two runs.

Lind had two hits, including his seventh homer of the season -- and sixth in 10 games -- off a hanging slider from reliever Brayan Villarreal in the seventh.

The Tigers rallied for three unearned runs in the ninth against Shawn Camp, but Frank Francisco entered the game to get the final out to earn his second save.

After winning three in a row against the New York Yankees, the Tigers were hoping to keep a good thing going against the Blue Jays before a crowd of 19,711 at Rogers Centre.

But the game had a turning point as early as the first inning .

Brennan Boesch was thrown out at home on a diving play by catcher Arencibia, who had to go into foul territory to field left-fielder Juan Rivera's throw after a single by Victor Martinez. The Tigers (15-18) did not score despite two hits and a walk in the inning. It hurt worse when Toronto scored three in the bottom half of the inning.

"[Arencibia] made a great play," Leyland said. "He picked it, you know. Obviously that was a big play. We thought we had one on the board and we didn't get anything to show for it, and they ended up getting three on the board."

"Even in the first half inning there was a little bit of a momentum shift," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. "For J.P. to go far to his glove side and get back and still get a sliding Brennan Boesch, that squelched what could have been a multiple run inning."

The Blue Jays (15-17) did some damage in their half of the inning, using five singles to score the three runs. Rajai Davis and Yunel Escobar singled to set the stage for RBI singles by Lind, Rivera and Arencibia. Lind's single extended his hitting streak to 11.

"He jammed Rivera and broke his bat, but he got a hit to left," Leyland said. "They centered some balls that went deep in the [fifth] inning, but he gave us every bit of a chance. I thought he hung in there and battled and did a good job."

"This turf, it plays fast especially on balls like that up the middle," center fielder Austin Jackson said. "Not to say that they didn't hit them well, but I know the ball I hit [in the first for a single], on grass sometimes that ball kind of slows up."

Coke allowed another run in the third on Arencibia's double to right center.

Jhonny Peralta's groundout to third scored Martinez, ending Litsch's shutout in the fourth. Martinez walked with one out and took third on a double by Magglio Ordonez.

The Tigers struck for three runs in the ninth, as Brandon Inge delivered a two-run double and Scott Sizemore hit a run-scoring single.

The first-inning turnaround looked bigger as the ninth progressed.

"It can be kind of tough, but at the same time it's early in the ballgame," Sizemore said of the first inning. "You don't really think about it that much, you go out there and do what you would whether you're up five or down five. You just keep plugging away and hope that the bats get going."

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