Mets Swept by Tigers in Justin Verlander’s Debut

The excitement was in the air for Mets fans as Justin Verlander was making his New York debut at Comerica Park against one of his former teams, the Detroit Tigers (13-17). Unfortunately, the offense was not able to get much of anything going against Eduardo Rodríguez as New York lost to the Tigers 2-0. The Mets (16-16) were ultimately swept in Detroit and they have lost 9 of their last 11 games.

Verlander (0-1, 3.60 ERA) did not have the best opening inning. On the first curveball he threw of the season, Riley Greene took the right-hander deep to right for a solo home run, his third of the season. Two pitches later, Javier Báez hit a home run of his own to right-center (2nd of the season) to put the Tigers ahead 2-0.

After the first inning, Verlander was able to settle in. The only other major jam he got into came in the bottom of the third when the Tigers had runners on second and third and two outs thanks to a Zach McKinstry walk and a Greene infield single and stolen base. The right-hander was able to get out of it by striking out Nick Maton swinging with a curveball.

On the day, Verlander went five innings, allowed two runs on five hits, walked a batter, and struck out five on 79 pitches (52 strikes) in the loss.

As for the offense, they did not get much of anything going against Rodríguez (3-2, 1.81 ERA). The Tigers’ southpaw only allowed a single to Tommy Pham in the second (caught stealing second) and a bloop single to Starling Marte in the fourth inning. Outside of that, he was dominant as he struck out five of the first seven batters he faced.

Rodríguez went eight innings, allowed no runs on two hits, walked a batter, had a pitch timer violation, and struck out nine on 102 pitches (70 strikes) in the win. The nine K’s are the second-most that Rodríguez has had in an outing this year and it’s the second time he has gone eight innings in an outing.

In the sixth, Jeff Brigham came in for Verlander and threw a 1-2-3 inning with one strikeout (10 of 19 pitches for strikes). He was followed up by Dominic Leone, who was making his team debut. He had a 1-2-3 seventh with a strikeout of his own (8 of 11 pitches for strikes). Drew Smith came in to pitch the eighth and threw a scoreless inning with a hit-by-pitch and a strikeout (13 of 21 pitches for strikes).

Alex Lange came in for Rodríguez to try to close it out. Brandon Nimmo snapped a streak of 16 straight Mets retired with a one-out single to left, but he was thrown out when he surprisingly tried to steal second with the tying run at the plate. Marte would end up striking out swinging for the final out. Lange only threw 13 pitches and ended up getting two strikeouts in his fifth save of the year.

Player Focus

On an afternoon when the Mets offense did not get much going, Verlander has to be the player of the game. According to Baseball Savant, his fastball averaged out at 95 miles-per-hour and he mainly featured that pitch along with his slider and an occasional curveball. On his five strikeouts, he used all three of his pitches to get the K (two fastballs, two sliders, one curveball).

When you consider the Mets needed their starter to give them innings after playing two doubleheaders this week, going five innings in his first start is a good first step.

 On Deck

 The Mets are back home at Citi Field on Friday to begin a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies (11-20). You can catch the game on SNY at 7:10 p.m EST. RHP Kodai Senga (3-1, 4.15 ERA) takes the ball for the Mets against RHP Antonio Senzatela (2023 debut) for the Rockies.