“He did yesterday but as is the norm with him, we want to make sure he’s OK the following day”, Ausmus said.
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I think more than anything, were trying to avoid him being out for any extended period of time. He already missed a significant number of days.
Both Ausmus and Verlander said that there aren’t any needed precautions to take, such as limiting his pitch count, but that they’d keep an eye on how he’s feeling and adjust accordingly.
As long as he feels fine, I dont think at this point we limit him, the manager said. He was able to throw 117 pitches in his most recent outing, a 7-2 loss to the New York Yankees on June 19.
“I thought he was (coming back out), and he thought he was done”, said Ausmus, who confirmed that the delay was in no way related to a health concern. It was a little different than just general soreness.
The Tigers have an off day Monday, then begin a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday at Comerica Park.
“It was the best I’ve felt in any start this year”. The first day, OK, you know, sore, whatever, should be OK, didnt really hurt too much doing some things.
The first day he tried to brush his teeth he said his back “was killing me and now it’s fine”. During his second start, Verlander suffered stiffness in his back in the fourth inning, but didn’t report the issue to the medical staff until after the game.
Ausmus called on right-hander Alex Wilson to start the seventh inning on short notice – “Minor detail in the long run, but I was ready to go”.
“Hopefully moving forward my body makes the adjustment quick”, Verlander said, adding that the only way to strengthen himself is to throw.
He feels strong, he said, but his body needs to be in “pitching shape”. No matter what kind of training you do, you can’t train for pitching.
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Verlander has been one of baseball’s most durable pitchers throughout his career, making at least 30 starts in each of the past nine seasons. But not to this extent where I had to miss a start. “I attribute that to not being out there pitching and not having the process to build up my pitch count in a normal manner and then going out there and competing at that level very quickly”.
