Tigers 3, Athletics 0
Phil Coke pitched seven shutout innings and Ryan Raburn doubled in the tiebreaking run as the Detroit Tigers blanked the host Oakland Athletics 3-0 on Thursday.
Coke (1-2) surrendered just three hits and two walks as he stymied Oakland batters. Coke struck out two and retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced as Detroit (6-7) won its third straight game.
Joaquin Benoit pitched a flawless eighth and Jose Valverde struck out two in a perfect ninth for his third save of the season.
Raburn doubled off the right-center field fence against reliever Tyson Ross (1-1) with two outs in the seventh. Ramon Santiago started the inning with a single and easily scored from second base on Raburn’s opposite-field hit.
The Tigers scored two runs without a hit in the eighth inning. Three straight walks loaded the bases and Santiago hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Jhonny Peralta. Brandon Boesch also scored on the play when Josh Willingham made an errant throw to third.
Gio Gonzalez gave up just two hits in six shutout innings for Oakland (6-7). Gonzalez walked six and struck out six.
Conor Jackson had two of Oakland’s three hits and Santiago had two of Detroit’s four hits.
Oakland pitchers walked 11 Tigers.