LAKELAND, Fla. >> Desperation probably isn’t the word.

Then again, there was a no-choice air to Andrew Chafin’s ninth-inning stint Saturday against the Braves at Marchant Stadium/Publix Field.

And he showed it as he tries, at the 11th hour, to win a final Tigers bullpen job.

Three batters Chafin attacked Saturday.

He threw ten pitches.

Down went Lizandro Espinoza on three swings. Gone was Jarred Kelenic on three pitches, the last two whiffed swings.

Goodbye, Ethan Workinger, also on three pitches, the final one a trademark Chafin swerving slider.

Chafin’s sinker was pushing 92.

The slider, as all three batters learned, was now back to old-time Chafin viciousness.

“All strikeouts,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said, with a nod, after Saturday’s game that finished in a nine-inning, scoreless deadlock.

But, realistically, was Saturday enough for Chafin — a left-handed, non-roster recruit to this spring’s Tigers camp — to win a bullpen seat over Branon Hanifee or Brant Hurter as Hinch gets ready for a West Coast tune-up against the Giants on Monday and Tuesday, all ahead of Thursday’s regular-season inaugural against the Dodgers at Los Angeles?

“I mean, obviously, it’s a long time to wait for him, and when you get to these late games you’ve got to bring your own intensity,” Hinch said after Chafin’s Braves incineration.

“It was good to see him have the spin and get the low (strikes).”

Chafin’s problem, besides needing to clear a precious roster spot, is his competition, principally Hanifee.

Hanifee has worked eight Grapefruit League games, with zero runs allowed in 9.2. innings.

Six hits, along with three walks, is the damage-tally against him, while a right-handed artist who was so strong down the stretch last season for the Tigers has struck out eight.

Hurter, a left-handed option the Tigers definitely could use in that last relief slot, had a rougher time early but has been sharp in his last three turns: no runs and three hits in five innings, with no walks and four punch-outs.

Hinch and his coaches aren’t finished evaluating.

The Tigers still had a game Sunday at Clearwater against the Phillies to close out their Florida camp. More critical figures to be Monday’s event against the Giants, which Hinch said will be a “bullpen game.”

Coupled with Tuesday night’s rematch against the Giants, heat figures to be maximum on Chafin and Hurter, particularly, as final grades are etched.

Hinch’s closing-hours verdicts apply not only to the bullpen but to position duels still firing.

Jahmai Jones and Justyn-Henry Malloy are tussling for a spot, seemingly, with Spencer Torkelson a consensus favorite to make that Opening Day list.

Jones is out of options, while Malloy — and Torkelson — each offer at least a safe haven if options are a deciding matter.

But it’s the bullpen, and its profound role in protecting Hinch’s rotation and any late-innings leads, that figures to be the sight this week of one furious fight to the finish.