Verlander appears ready to join Tigers after second rehab start
DETROIT -- At 32, Justin Verlander is hardly a dinosaur.
But he looked in vintage form Saturday night in Toledo as he made his second rehabilitation start for the Mud Hens on Jurassic Night.
Verlander has not pitched for the Tigers this season because of a strained right triceps muscle he suffered in a spring game in Dunedin, Fla. on March 27.
Verlander made his first rehab start for Triple-A Toledo on Sunday in Indianapolis against the Indians.
That day Verlander gave up three runs on six hits while walking two and striking out three in just 2 2/3 innings, throwing 79 pitches.
On Saturday against the light-hitting Columbus Clippers, Verlander gave up one unearned run on four hits while striking out nine in 5 2/3 innings.
He did not walk a batter while throwing 93 pitches, 69 for strikes.
"I feel like today was the step I wanted to see," Verlander said. "The biggest thing was getting my pitch count up, getting some innings, not just throwing three innings but getting out there and getting up and down a few times."
Mud Hens manager Larry Parrish said Verlander was much improved over his outing in Indianapolis.
"He looked very good, much better staying over the rubber tonight, his breaking ball was better, had good angle to his fastball," Parrish said. "To me, the worst inning he had was probably the first. Like a lot of good pitchers, he was sort of searching for it a bit in the first and then got the 3-2 breaking ball in there for strike three, we threw the guy out and after that, he was spot on."
Catcher Miguel Gonzalez also caught Verlander in Indianapolis.
"That was a great experience to catch that guy," Gonzalez said. "I think he got better this time, better arm action and other stuff with the breaking pitches, too."
Verlander threw first-pitch strikes to 18 of his 21 batters.
"That's always a good sign," Verlander said. "That goes hand in hand with fastball control. I was able to really locate well and hit the corners first pitch, not just here it is right down the middle, but put it in a good location."
Verlander was scheduled to throw no more than 90 pitches but he had 87 pitches with two outs and a runner at first in the top of the sixth.
Coming to the plate was Jesus Aguilar, who had already doubled in the fourth inning.
Parrish came out to talk to him.
"He said, can I get an out in three pitches and I said, yeah," Verlander said. "So I threw four, five, and then told Gonzo (Gonzalez) we gotta go right down the middle here, throw it right down the middle and hopefully get an out. Didn't get an out, he hit a double, but didn't want to end up in another 10-pitch at-bat and then be at 95-96, that wouldn't have made LP look good either. Just here it is, hit it."
Parrish said Verlander told him that he would have gotten Aguilar out but the umpire missed a pitch.
The only thing that seemed to throw Verlander off was when a person in a dinosaur costume brought out the game ball for him to use at the beginning of the game.
"That was a first," Verlander said. "Nobody told me it was happening. So I got a ball, went out there and here comes this dinosaur. I'm like, all right, something new."
Missing any time in the regular season has been new for Verlander.
Although the team has struggled of late, falling to third in the Central Division, Verlander said he hasn't felt pressure to return quickly.
"You just gotta go through the process, you can't try to rush things," Verlander said. "That's how you re-injure yourself. I would like to be there and help but like Brad (Tigers manager Brad Ausmus) told me, the best way to help is to be healthy."
As long as Verlander feels fine Sunday, it's highly likely his next start will come for the Tigers next week.
"He looked like he was ready today," Parrish said. "In Indy, no. Today, yeah."
Gonzalez agreed.
"Oh, yeah, definitely. He's ready," Gonzalez said.
The Tigers could certainly use a healthy Verlander as they try to get back on track.
"I've been part of some really good teams that went through stretches where we didn't play good baseball," Verlander said.
"I still believe we have a great team. I think when we turn it around, it's going to be a lot of fun."
