DETROIT — There's a reason they call it "must-see JV" when Justin Verlander is on the mound.
Only one person could have quieted Tigers' fans rants about the state of their muddling, sub-.500 team as easily as he quieted the Pittsburgh Pirates' bats Friday night in front of a sellout crowd of 41,661 at Comerica Park.
Verlander was at the top of his game, and when he's at the top of his dominating game, special things can happen.
The perfect game notion was over quickly as Verlander walked Neil Walker, the second batter of the game, but it was clear from the way things were going that hits would be very difficult to come by.
Verlander plowed quickly through the Pirates, retiring 18 in a row after Walker until he walked Andrew McCutchen in the seventh inning.
As usual, Verlander's velocity picked up later in the game. Going into the ninth, it felt almost inevitable that Verlander would become just the sixth major-leaguer to throw at least three no-hitters.
After Michael McKenry grounded out, designated hitter Josh Harrison came up and looked absolutely lost as he flailed at a couple of Verlander's sliders. Harrison fouled off another pitch, took a curveball and then threw his bat out at a slider, getting just enough of it to send it into center field over shortstop Jhonny Peralta's head.
Verlander uttered a completely understandable expletive when asked what he said when he saw Harrison's ball land in the outfield.
"It was off the plate, but the first two he swung at were down in the dirt and this one was off where he was able to just kind of stick his bat out there and get it up the middle," Verlander said. "That's why throwing no-hitters is so difficult."
Harrison sounded like he felt lucky that he was able to prevent Verlander's historic moment.
"I didn't even see those first two pitches," he said. "I was so amped to hit his 100 mile-an-hour fastball that I didn't even know where the ball was going. He never threw me a fastball in that at-bat, but I finally got a pitch I could put my bat on, and it found a hole.
You know what's happening and you want to stop it, but that's not easy against that guy."
Getting a one-hit, 6-0 shutout doesn't diminish in any way what Verlander was able to accomplish.
"I’m not sure I’ve seen better than tonight," manager Jim Leyland said. "His stuff looked electric to me. Not that it didn’t in some of the other ones, but I just thought that he really had it going — slider, curveball, and he went to the power fastball when he needed to.
"That’s just the kind of stuff you don’t see. Not many guys that can do that."
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, who has been in baseball for more than three decades, knows when he's seeing something -- or someone -- out of the ordinary.
"He's the only guy I've ever seen in this game that can jump his velocity seven miles an hour in the last three innings of a game," Hurdle said. "He's throwing 93 for six innings and then he's throwing 100. And the whole time, he can spin the ball anywhere he wants for a strike or for you to chase it.
"There's a reason he got those two trophies (AL MVP, AL Cy Young) last season. They don't give them out to just anyone."
Verlander threw his first no-hitter in 2007, his second season, against the Milwaukee Brewers. He threw his second one last year in Toronto.
Prince Fielder was on the other side of the no-hitter in 2007 and dearly wanted to be on the fun side Friday.
"I wanted to jump around on the field," Fielder said. "I was just excited for Justin.
"Anytime someone can have games like that at this level, it’s just awesome to see. It didn’t happen, but he still pitched a great game."
Alex Avila, who has already caught one of Verlander's no-hitters, fully expects to catch another one.
"He's got the kind of stuff," Avila said. "He's turned into a complete pitcher where he's got four pitches he can command in the strike zone, four out pitches.
"I said it last year, it wouldn't surprise me."
