Justin Verlander put together two strong starts prior to his first home start as a New York Met. So, Tuesday provided an opportunity for Verlander to make his long-awaited first start at Citi Field and endear himself to a home crowd that’s waited patiently for his arrival.
Instead, Verlander received a rude welcome to Queens, as he walked off the field in the fifth inning to a chorus of boos. The Mets weren’t looking for Verlander to mirror his last start at Citi Field, which came in a Houston Astros uniform. Rather they needed some length from Tuesday’s starter and for Verlander to be Verlander.
The last time Verlander pitched at Citi Field, he was on the opposing team. In a 2-0 win for the eventual World Series champions, Verlander allowed just two hits — one of them to Ender Inciarte — across eight scoreless innings with six strikeouts and a walk.
After getting through two innings relatively unscathed, Verlander was tagged for four runs in the third. The 40-year-old’s first home start at Citi Field started strong. He stranded runners in the first inning and struck out two batters in the first two innings. But, after allowing Harold Ramirez and Wander Franco to reach base in the third, Verlander hung a 3-2 pitch with two outs, one he’d love to have back.
Isaac Paredes launched a hanging curveball to left field and gave the Rays the commanding 3-0 lead. It didn’t happen in the first inning this time, but the Mets started another game in a hole caused by the starting pitching, and Verlander wasn’t able to dig deep enough to get them out of it.
Verlander allowed a run to pass in the fourth inning before Paredes tagged him for his second home run of the game in the fifth. After being booed off the field, the book on Verlander was closed. He struggled against Major League Baseball’s best team, allowing six runs on eight hits in five innings pitched. He managed to strike out just one batter in his final three innings after striking out two in the first two frames.
Following his worst start in a Mets uniform, Velernader didn’t mince words when it came to his performance, saying that there weren’t a lot of positives to take out of Tuesday’s performance, per Deesha Thosar of Fox Sports. He also seemed to empathize with a frustrated fanbase who let him have it — fair or not — after they witnessed another clunker on the mound.
“I understand the fans are frustrated,” he said. “We’re frustrated too. Everybody’s frustrated. We expect to be better. I expect to be better. I think this entire organization expects to be better.”
After Tuesday’s outing, Verlander will have to head back to the drawing board. He has his work cut out for him, but there’s a lot of pressure on him and his counterpart, Max Scherzer, to write the ship. If neither of those two can pitch to their capabilities, there aren’t a lot of answers for what more the Mets, who fell to three games under .500 following Tuesday’s 8-5 loss to the Rays, can do.
