Angels struggle with the Tigers’ Justin Verlander in 4-2 loss
Reporting from Detroit — Late Friday night, after resurgent Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander dominated the Angels at Comerica Park, Mike Trout said he recalled watching Verlander blow 100 mph fastballs by him his first year in the major leagues. So, this latest effort, Trout said, was not quite as tough as that.
Yet, the performance Verlander delivered in a 4-2 victory over the Angels could not have been all that far off.
“It was the best his slider has looked all year,” Tigers Manager Brad Ausmus said.
Verlander began the start at the exact earned-run average — 3.38 — with which he finished last season. But he has provided indications of a return to form this year, striking out two more men per nine innings and working deep into his starts. He’s a candidate to emerge from the crowded American League Cy Young race.
On this night, he nearly finished eight innings, at one point retiring 10 consecutive Angels and 19 of 20. He struck out eight. He walked just one.
Albert Pujols did connect on a 393-foot home run in the first inning, his first homer against Verlander since a more important moment: Game 1 of the 2006 World Series while Pujols was with the St. Louis Cardinals. It provided the Angels an early lead, but proved insufficient offense for the night. They reached base only twice more until the eighth inning, on a single from C.J. Cron and an Andrelton Simmons walk.
Trailing 4-1 in the eighth inning, they forced Verlander’s exit. Kaleb Cowart singled, Kole Calhoun doubled, driving in Cowart, and Trout walked against Verlander’s replacement, closer and ex-Angel Francisco Rodriguez. Pujols hammered a Rodriguez fastball far enough to be a home run, but it went foul. Later in the at-bat, Pujols grounded out to another ex-Angel, shortstop Erick Aybar.
The Tigers threatened twice before breaking through. After J.D. Martinez led off the second inning against Angels starter Ricky Nolasco with a single, Cowart missed a chopper hit his way by Justin Upton, which put runners on second and third for Casey McGehee. He tapped a ball to Simmons at shortstop, and Simmons fired home in time to get Martinez. Nolasco recorded another out, then walked Aybar to load the bases.
But Ian Kinsler drove a pitch to Trout in center, and the inning concluded. In the fifth, Nolasco opposed Miguel Cabrera in the same two-on, two-out situation. They battled to six pitches before Nolasco landed a fastball atop the strike zone, and Cabrera echoed Kinsler, again concluding the inning with an out to Trout.
Nolasco’s was tripped up in the sixth, when he yielded back-to-back doubles and then a home run to Justin Upton. Left in for the seventh inning, Nolasco yielded another homer, this time a solo shot by Cameron Maybin.
“I was able to make pitches to get out of those things before,” Nolasco said. “But, in the sixth, it was two hanging sliders that I thought were the difference in the game.”
Nolasco was facing the Tigers for the fourth time this season. He spent the first four months of 2016 as a Minnesota Twin, and the Twins lost each of his first three starts against their division rivals. The Angels are winless in Nolasco’s five starts since his Aug. 1 acquisition. And, after back-to-back wins in Toronto, Friday’s failure meant they will go six weeks without winning three consecutive games.
“I feel like I am giving us a chance,” Nolasco said. “I’m just trying to go deep in games and eat up innings.”
Follow Pedro Moura on Twitter @pedromoura
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