Injury delayed the start of Justin Verlander's Mets career, but he finally was able to make his 2023 debut Thursday in Detroit. After a rocky start, Verlander settled in and the outing has to be considered a net positive despite the 2-0 loss to the Tigers as Detroit completed a sweep against the slumping Mets.
Said rocky start for Verlander was allowing back-to-back home runs to Riley Greene and Javier Báez in the first inning.
Hey, Verlander is 40 years old and coming off injury. He's entitled to a little rust, right? It's a lot easier to accept the rust argument, given what he did the rest of the way.
Excluding the first inning, Verlander allowed just three hits in four scoreless innings. In all, he struck out five in his five innings and needed 79 pitches. Basically, the two home runs were the only issue with the outing. I'm sure he'd like to have been more efficient and would be annoyed at his one walk, but that's all nitpicking. It was basically just a great outing other than the two homers.
He'll look to build on this one moving forward and the next scheduled start for Verlander is next Thursday in Cincinnati. His likely debut in Citi Field as a Mets hurler will likely come in the series against the MLB-best Rays May 16-18.
Verlander making this start in Detroit's Comerica Park was pretty fun. He was drafted second overall by the Tigers in 2004, made two starts in 2005 and won Rookie of the Year in 2006. He pitched in parts of 13 seasons for the Tigers, winning a Cy Young and MVP while making six All-Star teams and being part of the rotation for two AL pennant winners.
After being traded to the Astros late in 2017, Verlander spent 2018-22 with the club. He missed most of 2020 and all of 2021 due to an elbow injury and the ensuing Tommy John surgery. He returned from the surgery in 2022 in his age-39 season and won his third Cy Young. He was the ace of the Astros' staff as they won the 2022 World Series, too.
This past offseason, Verlander signed a two-year, $86.67 million deal with the Mets. He's been delayed before this start due to a strain in his teres major muscle, which is close to the shoulder in the lat area (think close to the armpit on your back).
It'll be interesting to see how he fares this season, given his age, Hall of Fame resume and recent arm injuries. Though there's the caveat of the back-to-back homers allowed, things got off to a good start Thursday, at least for Verlander on an individual basis.
