KEY STAT
Phil Coke: 4 2/3 innings, 6 runs (5 earned). Ever since his injury in May, he seems to be struggling. Well, 3 of the 4 starts, anyway.
KEY PLAY
Wily Mo Pena hit a home run that landed in the suburbs in the eighth inning. I can't believe Arizona kept him in the minors for so long. The 454-footer was the longest HR ever hit by an opposing player at Comerica Park, and the third longest ever, Jason Beck wrote. (Behind Carlos Pena's 461 and Eric Munson's 457).
KEY THOUGHTS
The game may have peaked for you at the 4-0 Tigers lead. It may have peaked for you when Casper Wells hit a home run to give the team a 6-3 lead. But the game peaked for me when Mario and Rod had this early comment. (Thanks to SabreRoseTiger for writing it down).
Mario: "Avila got rid of the goatee."
Rod: "It’ll be back tomorrow."
Mario: "It might be back by the seventh inning."
Ah, early game fun-ness when the home team is winning easy. How I miss you when they blow it in the eighth. (Actually, they blew it in the 4th and 5th when they gave up the lead, if you ask me. (In relief of Coke, Ryan Perry threw a wild pitch for the game-tying run in his first game back from Toledo, by the way.)
Coke told the media (quoted at MLB.com):
"I got out there, they give me a lead and I let it slip away. Of course I'm frustrated. I feel terrible. The best way I can describe it right now."
Sick of this interleague thing yet? Detroit will need to win Saturday and Sunday or risk losing their fourth interleague series of 2010. Son, that's no way to win a division.