DETROIT — Justin Verlander jogged out to the Comerica Park mound in a familiar setting in front of familiar fans. They gave him a standing ovation. A few of them even chanted “M-V-P” as they did in 2011 when he was named the NL MVP and won the first of his three Cy Young Awards.
Much like when his former Detroit Tigers teammate Max Scherzer did the same the night prior, it was the same, but different. Different because he promptly gave up two home runs in the first inning, unlike the version of Verlander that pitched in Detroit for 13 years.
Verlander made his Mets debut in the third game of a three-game series in Detroit on Thursday afternoon and took the loss in a 2-0 defeat. The Mets (16-16) were swept for the second time this season and even worse, swept by a team with a losing record that isn’t expected to make the playoffs.
Verlander (0-1) didn’t exactly look like the dominant ace of the mid-aughts in his Mets debut. He’s now 40 with a family and gray hair, and while his velocity is still around 94-95 MPH, his command eluded him at times.
The Mets signed Verlander to a two-year, $86.67 million contract over the winter, but he spent five weeks on the injured list with a teres major strain in his right shoulder and all of baseball has been eagerly waiting to see what he can do with his new team.
But much like the old Verlander, he settled down and got outs. The Tigers (13-17) made a lot of hard contact but the right-hander was able to keep it in the ballpark after that first inning. He went five innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits, walking one and striking out five.
It was a good start, but not great. And the offense behind him wasn’t great either.
The Mets managed only two hits against left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (3-2) over eight innings. He walked only one and struck out nine, flummoxing the Mets throughout. Rodriguez was the recipient of a standing ovation himself from the 18,369 fans who came downtown to watch the Tigers’ former ace pitch against the current one.
Alex Lange recorded the save (five) with a scoreless ninth.
It’s been a frustrating stretch for the Mets between rainouts and doubleheaders and inconsistent offensive performances. They’ve been shut out twice in their last 10 games, lost nine out of their last 11 and have scored only one run in the last 18 innings.