Justin Verlander suffers his first loss of 2012 regular season – MLB News
Justin Verlander suffered his first loss of the season at the hands of Tampa Bay Rays at the Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan on Wednesday, April 11 in first game of a three match series between the Rays and Detroit Tigers. It was Verlander’s first loss
in Major League Baseball regular season since July 2011.
The Tigers looked on course to an easy win when they led the score 2-0 in the eighth inning. With Verlander pitching the last inning, Detroit Tigers were the favourites to win the contest but Joe Maddon and his men had other ideas.
For the Rays, Carlos Pena, Desmond Jennings and Evan Longoria made the difference, scoring four runs off Verlander’s final inning and the Tigers lost their first game of this season. Verlander displayed some high quality pitching skills to strike out 250
batters and earn an impressive 24-5 win-loss record last season. For his incredible performances, he was also named the 2011 Most Valuable Player Award and Cy Young Award winner.
With their win over the Tigers, the Rays also improved their win-loss record to 4-1 this season. Ben Zobrist hit a tie breaking run off Verlander.
"Kepp was the whole key to the inning. If Verlander gets him out, the game's over," Rays’ Manager Joe Maddon said. "He shuts the door on you in that situation, but getting a hit there made the whole difference. I think, after that, Verlander started to tune
up the velocity and he lost a bit of command in the process."
"I'd been playing to those guys' aggressiveness, getting them out in front on off-speed stuff and then just got away from it there in the ninth for no reason," Verlander said in an interview.
Verlander will be disappointed with the result of the clash considering the way he pitched a one hitter into the ninth before allowing his first run of the season. Taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning, Verlander looked in marvellous form for most part
of the day. Overall, the big guy allowed four runs and four hits in just over eight innings. It will be interesting to see if he can bounce back in his next MLB start.
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