FLUSHING, NY — In his Mets home debut on Tuesday evening against the Tampa Bay Rays, Justin Verlander, a three-time Cy Young award winner, and future Cooperstown Hall of Famer, received a not-so-warm welcome…
Or in other words, the 40-year-old right-hander got ‘stung’ — surrendering two home runs to Rays Isaac Paredes, and six earned runs all together as the Mets dropped the series opener by a final score of 8-5 at Citi Field.
On the night, Verlander, who made his third start of the season and first against the Rays since October of 2019, allowed eight hits, and two walks across five innings with three strikeouts.
“He’s still in April,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said of Verlander. “He’s coming off a good outing. He’s going to be fine. That’s a good team. They’ve done well against good pitchers like Justin. I’ll take my chances with him anytime.”
Justin Verlander, Dirty 87mph Slider. 😨 pic.twitter.com/sLutXWyZsU
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 16, 2023
Verlander began his outing by executing and commanding the strike zone, totaling 8/9 first pitch strikes (88.8%) the first time through Tampa Bay’s lineup.
Justin Verlander, 95mph Fastball (home plate view) pic.twitter.com/CMPoy6qT21
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 16, 2023
But, what got the best of him, along with nearly every single opponent of the Rays this year, is Tampa Bay’s aggressive yet patient approach at the plate, consistent on scrappy at-bats – grinding away at pitchers, and working the count.
To go deeper, Verlander threw 31 pitches in the first two innings (two hits and one walk) — in the next three innings, he compiled 65 pitches (six hits and one walk).
“They found a way to put the ball in play,” he said. “Got some hits. Put some pressure on and all it takes is one big hit. The early one hurt, and the second one hurt pretty bad. I need to be better.”
Verlander then went into depth about the two mistakes he made on Paredes:
Starting the series off with a Paredes around the bases pic.twitter.com/ua8BReHVMO
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 17, 2023
“The first one was hit 92 and change. I was surprised that left, I thought it was a flyball off the bat. Thought the ball was carrying left.”
Rock 'em
'saac 'em
bop 'em pic.twitter.com/CpTSAPTgkt— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 17, 2023
“The second one, it was just a matter of fair or foul. The ball was right down the line. If that ball is just left of the foul pole, then maybe we’re in the game. But, this isn’t a game of what ifs.”
Although it was a not-so-warm welcome for Verlander on Tuesday evening, the Mets ace, alongside Max Scherzer, is already back to the drawing board, preparing for his next start.
“The only positive is that I know I have work to do,” Verlander said. “I have something with my mechanics that I need to fix and fix it in a hurry. Sometimes it takes games like this to kick you and make you study everything you need to. Overall, not great today.”
Robert Rizzo is a journalist and co-editor of Latino Sports – Email: RobertRiz994@gmail.com
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