Justin Verlander takes beating against Kansas City Royals – MLB Update
Justin Verlander has remained a key member of Detroit Tigers’ pitching rotation over the last few years. In some ways, he has played a key role in the Tigers revival in Major League Baseball circuit.
Not only is Verlander an extremely talented pitcher, he also has the ability to come out with his best stuff in pressure situations. Perhaps, that is one of the reasons why Tigers eased into the playoffs last season, winning the American League Central Division
title for the first time.
However, the circumstances are different this year. Tigers’ arch rivals Chicago White Sox are leading the American League Central Division with 71 wins and the Tigers are two games behind them.
Manager Jim Leyland believes that Verlander is one of the best pitchers in the entire American League and surely he is expecting the ace to deliver the goods on a regular basis at this critical stage of the season.
However, Verlander struggled to control his fastballs and sliders on Tuesday, August 28 in series opener against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
"Clearly, I wasn't good enough," Verlander said. "I missed on location a little bit, but not necessarily up. Most of the hard-hit balls they hit were in that first inning because I missed on location. I felt from there forward I made some pretty good pitches
and let them put the ball in play in the right spots."
"We did a great job against him," Yost said. "We had a good approach against him. Justin is probably saying he wasn't real sharp tonight, but you take advantage when you can.”
Had Verlander won the game, Detroit would have closed down the gap between themselves and the White Sox to just one game but that’s not how things worked out. The 2011 AL Most Valuable Player Award winner gave up a season high 12 hits and eight runs in just
over five innings to leave the Tigers in disarray.
Although he struck-out six batters, he looked far from his best effort. It will be interesting to see if Verlander can regroup himself before his next start to give the Tigers a better chance of reaching the post-season.
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