The Detroit Tigers lost on Saturday, but they received an encouraging performance from Justin Verlander in the process.
No, he was not great, but he was good enough–or should have been good enough if not for bullpen issues in the 5-4 loss to Cleveland which saddled Verlander with a no-decision despite departing the game with the lead. J.V. was very effective early, had good action on the curveball and was getting more swings and misses than he had been toward the end of last year.
He ran out of gas a bit in the fourth and fifth inning after 87 pitches, though that is to be expected since that was around his pitch count for his two rehab starts in Toledo.