LAKELAND, Fla. -- Sometimes spring statistics are kind of like reverse psychology.
Last spring coming off core muscle surgery, Justin Verlander did not give up a run in four starts and went on to have a miserable year by his standards: 15-12, 4.54 ERA, 1.40 WHIP.
This spring coming off a normal offseason of workouts and physical therapy, Verlander is feeling much stronger and having different results.
In Tuesday's 6-4 loss to the Washington Nationals, Verlander's third start, he gave up four runs on five hits while walking one and striking out three. Two of those five hits were home runs.
"I'm pretty happy about giving up runs right now. I needed to give up some runs, get that out of the way," Verlander said. "This is a typical spring start where the numbers don't show it but I'm pleased."
Tigers manager Brad Ausmus was pleased, too.
"Other than his slider, everything was good for Ver," Ausmus said. "Good curveball, fastball was good. He was 92-94 (miles per hour). His change-up was good, especially latter two innings."
Verlander said he hadn't focused on his slider much in his two previous starts and just couldn't quite get it today.
"I think besides the misplaced fastball the last inning, the only thing they really hit was my slider and it's because it was horrible and I just kept throwing it trying to get a feel for it," Verlander said. "In a real game if my slider's that bad, I'm not really going to throw it."
Verlander said it was the best he'd felt physically all spring.
"Velocity is better than it was last start so that's trending where I want it to," Verlander said. "Hopefully that continues to climb. Curveball has consistently been much better than it was at any point last year so just keep working on that."
Joe Nathan came out to the mound to boos but left to a standing ovation after getting a groundout, strikeout and fly-out in a perfect fifth.
Being able to get through an inning Saturday after throwing a lot of pitches his previous outing was a good thing.
"I felt very fresh coming off of what we did and then having two days off and throwing again," Nathan said. "My arm felt good, too, which was a bonus."
Nathan said the current plan is for him to pitch again Friday so the team can get a look at some of the younger guys in the interim.
"Starting Friday I think we gotta start thinking about back-to-backs and if he wants more than a one-inning outing, we'll start to get those in before we get closer to the break of camp," Nathan said.
Joakim Soria threw a perfect inning of his own, continuing to show no ill effects from the blister he had on his right thumb.
Joba Chamberlain gave up two runs on two hits while walking one and hitting a batter.
"I think Joba's better when the games really mean something," Ausmus said. "Joba was kind of like this a little bit last year in spring training."
Bruce Rondon pitched for the first time on just one day of rest.
"Velocity was good, his change-up was good," Ausmus said. "He looked fine."
Tyler Collins hit a home run off of left-hander Jerry Blevins and then threw out speedy Derrick Robinson at the plate as he tried to score on a fly ball.
"That was a perfect throw really," Ausmus said. "Any other throw wouldn't have gotten the guy. Of course, three-run homer, got us right back in the game."
Collins enjoyed both, of course. But which was better?
"Maybe in that situation, the homer," Collins said. "But I don't know, I like throwing people out. It's kind of fun."
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