Justin Verlander fails to win 25th game of season, Tigers fall to Orioles

by Kurt Mensching on Sep 24, 2011 10:13 PM EDT in Detroit Tigers News

Final - 9.24.2011	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R
Baltimore Orioles	1	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	6
Detroit Tigers	0	0	1	2	0	1	0	1	0	5

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BOX

KEY STATS

Justin Verlander gave up 5 runs in his first three innings on the mound. However, after allowing a home run to Mark Reynolds in the third (and a base runner thanks to Ryan Raburn), Verlander got through the next 12 batters without allowing a baserunner. Meanwhile the Tigers rallied to tie the game.

24: Justin Verlander fell a win shy of the nice round number "25" everyone was craving.

KEY PLAY

Two in the ninth: One, Daniel Schlereth gets a swinging strikeout, but catcher Alex Avila couldn't find the baseball. Orioles pinch runner Kyle Hudson went from first to third on the play. He then scored on a suicide squeeze by Matt Angle. That ends up the winning run.

By the way, Angle also hit his first career home run in the first inning.

KEY THOUGHTS

Baltmore has now taken 2 of 3 games in the series. Detroit hopes to earn a split in Sunday's game.

Note you may have seen elsewhere: The last pitcher to go for his 25th win and lose was Roger Clemens. He won the AL MVP that year, 1986.

Verlander stunk early, undeniably. Maybe he got too ramped up? Hard to say. But he did settle in and look a lot more like himself after that. More stats: The last time he allowed five runs in a game was July 15 to the White Sox. The last time at least five were earned was May 24, when the Rays scored six.

The Tigers fought back well, as they always do. It was just an unfortunate series of events that led to the loss. On the bright side, the eventual game winner got on with a hit, not a walk. Progress?

Al Alburquerque had a 1-2-3 eighth inning. Jim Leyland said he'd try to get him into Sunday's game to see how he feels on back-to-back days.

STANDINGS NOTES

The Rangers won today, so the Tigers are a game behind in the ALDS home field race.

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Comments

Wow, your oriole drawing skills have improved greatly in 24 hours.

Fan of the Detroit Tigers, Lions and Red Wings.

by Elfuego51 on Sep 24, 2011 10:17 PM EDT reply actions

I googled an oriole to see what one looked like.

Bless You Boys.com

by Kurt Mensching on Sep 24, 2011 10:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Reference material

Is important for any artist.

Random nonsense at @Baroque97

"It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time." --Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)

by Baroque on Sep 25, 2011 8:52 AM EDT up reply actions

Ah well, happens to the best of them.

Go Tigers! Go Ma—hahaha. Go Angels, I guess?

@littlestclouds

by ivantopumpyouup on Sep 24, 2011 10:21 PM EDT reply actions

Hey!

The Mariners have won a FEW games this season. They haven’t lost all of them. :)

Random nonsense at @Baroque97

"It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time." --Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)

by Baroque on Sep 25, 2011 8:56 AM EDT up reply actions

Although I must say, great season JV, and hopefully there's a lot more to it.

These guys are special, and when Dan Dickerson said they came down from 5-0 to tie it, I could only think to myself, “You know…as shocking as it was to hear that score, these guys are tough. They won’t go away, and don’t give away at-bats.” It may be a loss tonight, but it’s stuff like this (that I feel like we’re all accustomed to nowadays) that makes you feel like this team has what it takes to go very far. It’s a shame a team(?) like Baltimore can spoil our fun.

by Boeschlander on Sep 24, 2011 10:33 PM EDT reply actions

To be honest

If either Cabrera or Raburn had slightly better range and managed to get that GB in the second (either Davis or Andino) this start looks dramatically different. JV got unlucky.

"You, on the other hand, make Eeyore look like Rainbow Brite." -johnmoz

Contributor, Bless You Boys

by David Tokarz on Sep 24, 2011 10:55 PM EDT reply actions

In other words

Even I’m not worried, and apparently I’m Eeyore.

"You, on the other hand, make Eeyore look like Rainbow Brite." -johnmoz

Contributor, Bless You Boys

by David Tokarz on Sep 24, 2011 10:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Clearly

Detroit4Lyfe

by Rob Rogacki on Sep 24, 2011 11:36 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm a little concerned that JV threw 120 pitches

25 is nice round number. That’s it. Otherwise a meaningless game.

120 pitches seems like a lot for guy who (hopefully) could pitch 8 more games this year.

by thesiberian on Sep 24, 2011 11:05 PM EDT reply actions

Meh, he's got 5 days rest.

by rcpratt on Sep 24, 2011 11:08 PM EDT up reply actions

That's pretty standard for JV.

Says he feels better after throwing 120+ usually. I’m not concerned about his arm.

by playoffbeard on Sep 24, 2011 11:08 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Have you looked at JV's pitch counts at all this year?

Detroit4Lyfe

by Rob Rogacki on Sep 24, 2011 11:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Wait

This~~season~~ career of Verlander’s seems to make 120 pitches look about normal.

I have a grand idea: let's win a game.

by 13194013 on Sep 25, 2011 1:42 AM EDT up reply actions

Guess so.

But at some point the season will begin to wear on him. In his last few games he hasn’t seemed as sharp as he was june-august. Small sample size, sure. But we’re hoping he pitches another 50 innings (900 pitches) in october (on top of 251IP, and 3900 pitches, already). Let’s not burn him out.

is all I’m saying.

by thesiberian on Sep 25, 2011 8:49 AM EDT up reply actions

I've enjoyed every bit of Verlander's season

24-5, 2.40 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and 250 K’s.

A Quadruple Crown if the season ended Today.

Post season here we come.

by Keith-Allen on Sep 24, 2011 11:54 PM EDT reply actions

I'm sure JV will claim he wasn't amped up for this start.

I’m also sure he’s a bloody liar. Last start of the season, at home before the playoffs, chance to get 25 wins… he’s capable of a superhuman level of focus, and he’s extremely determined, but he isn’t a robot. It affected him a little bit at first, then he settled down.

Random nonsense at @Baroque97

"It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time." --Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)

by Baroque on Sep 25, 2011 8:55 AM EDT reply actions