DETROIT -- Michael Fulmer may be ready to return from the disabled list in five days to reclaim his spot in the starting rotation.
The Detroit Tigers could use the help.
Fulmer's fill-in, Drew VerHagen, gave up six runs on nine hits and didn't make it out of the fourth inning as the Tigers lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-5 Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park.
VerHagen, making his second start of the season and third of his career, got only four swinging strikes in 79 pitches and was hit hard (two doubles, a triple and a home run) by a Pirates team that managed only three hits a day earlier.