In his first start with the New York Mets, in front of his former fans at Comerica Park, pitcher Justin Verlander received a brutal reception. The visitors escaped this meeting against the Detroit Tigers by a score of 2-0 on Thursday afternoon.
It’s not going very well on the mound this season for the New York formation and the return of its star gunners was eagerly awaited. After Max Scherzer the day before, whose performance was crowned with mixed success, Verlander tried his luck.
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Two of the first three hitters the 40-year-old faced, Riley Greene and Javier Baez, hit solo homers at his expense. Let’s say the former Cy-Young recipient needed to warm up to his first competitive pitches in 2023. A right shoulder injury had kept him out so far.
Everything went relatively well for Verlander (0-1) thereafter, but his teammates did not show much attacking instincts, so he suffered the setback. In five innings of work, the former Houston Astros and Tigers allowed five hits and a walk – in addition to two home runs – and struck out five men.
The big star of this meeting was Eduardo Rodriguez (3-2). The Detroit pitcher went eight innings to the mound and only allowed two strikes to the safe. With nine strikeouts, he reached the 1,000 career mark.