Verlander undeterred amid Indians beatdown

Cleveland — It’s befuddling, it really is. 

Justin Verlander appeared to have found his groove after a horrendous start against the Pirates on April 11. He won two of his next three starts, allowing just eight earned runs, including a 10-strikeout performance over seven innings the last time he faced the Indians.

Then this happened.

Verlander was tattooed by the Indians Tuesday — seven runs, eight hits in just five innings — and the team’s five-game win streak was obliterated, 7-3.

“I feel good overall,” Verlander said. “My stuff is getting better and better. It will get better. I know it will. I am not just saying that. I wholeheartedly believe that. I know things will change.”

They had been changing. Manager Brad Ausmus talked about Verlander’s turnaround before the game.

“He made a mechanical adjustment with his arm slot, but I will go back to what I said earlier — this guy has had one bad start since last July,” Ausmus said. “That’s a pretty good stretch.”

True. The blowup Tuesday was just the fourth start in the last 20 that Verlander allowed more than three runs. But that just makes it all the more perplexing. 

He struggled to locate his pitches. He struggled to make key pitches in key situations. On the rare occasion that he got ahead of hitters, he struggled to put them away.

“I just did a bad job of pitching,” Verlander said. “I need to execute my pitches a little better.”

In the first inning he faced Mike Napoli with two on and two out. He had retired Michael Brantley, winning a seven-pitch battle in which the last five pitches were 95 mph fastballs. He got ahead of Napoli 1-2, again throwing all mid-90s heat. 

Catcher James McCann wanted the 1-2 fastball elevated. Verlander threw it belt high and Napoli crushed it over Anthony Gose’s head – a two-run double.

“It’s easy to kick yourself in the butt after the fact on that one,” he said. “There were a bunch of other ways I could’ve attacked him there. Obviously, it’s the first inning and that was a huge turning point. Not only giving up the hit but I needed to throw another 20 pitches to get out of the inning.”

Indians catcher Yan Gomes followed. He was in a 0-for-16 skid. Verlander got ahead 0-2 and put a high slider over the plate that Gomes slapped into center field to score Napoli. 

It was a 38-pitch inning and the Tigers were in a fast 3-0 hole. 

Verlander had no answer for Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor. He singled in the first, doubled and scored on a Brantley single in the fourth and then, after the Tigers had cut the lead to 4-2, belted a long three-run home run to right field in the fifth. 

It came on a 3-1 pitch and it was center cut. 

Just a brutal night, reminiscent of the struggles he had in Cleveland in the early part of his career. In fact, according to ESPN stats, Verlander’s 5.61 career ERA at Progressive Field is the third highest by any qualifying pitcher (25 starts minimum) at any stadium. 

“You will always have stadiums where you do or don’t pitch well,” Ausmus said. “Sometimes it’s a little bit random. Sometimes there something to it. I don’t think there’s anything to it in this case.”

The Tigers didn’t do themselves any favors on the base paths, either.

Tigers have no plans to alter starting times

In the first inning, J.D. Martinez tried to score on a medium-depth fly ball to right. He beat the throw from right fielder Marlon Byrd and was initially called safe. But video replay clearly revealed that Martinez’s front foot was raised on his slide and never touched the plate. 

“All bases are raised an inch or an inch and a half off the ground, so they’re easier to slide into,” Ausmus said. “Home plate is the one base flush to the ground. When you slide with your cleats, it’s sometimes hard to actually hit it. When you hit the dirt in front of the plate, your foot pops up and that’s what happened to J.D.”

The Tigers had nine hits in six innings off Indians starter Josh Tomlin, but the only two runs came on Ian Kinsler’s two-run homer in the fifth. It was the fifth home run of the season for Kinsler. 

Justin Upton, who was picked off first base in the fourth inning on a back throw by Gomes, nearly put the Tigers ahead in the fifth. After Kinsler’s homer, Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez singled with two outs. 

Upton just got under a pitch from Tomlin and sent it on a majestic arc to the track in left, where it fell harmlessly into Brantley’s glove. 

Verlander, with the Tigers desperate for a shutdown inning, walked Carlos Santana on four pitches to start the bottom of the fifth. 

Kinsler approaching Hall of Fame pace, and not slowing down

“I’m never wearing sleeves again,” said Verlander, who changed into long sleeves between innings in the fifth. “In my last start, it felt like when the weather turned, it got cold in a hurry and I had a tough time warming up. I thought this time, before the weather turned I’d put on long sleeves.

“Never done it before but I didn’t think it would have an effect. I went out for warm-ups and didn’t throw a single strike and I walked Santana on four pitches and fell behind every batter.”

Jason Kipnis followed with a single and then Lindor effectively ended the night for the Tigers with his second homer of the season.

The Tigers scored the third run in the eighth, and again left two runners stranded. Cabrera, who walked, went to second on Upton’s second hit of the game and scored on Nick Castellanos’ single.

Indians reliever Bryan Shaw came in and struck out McCann and got pinch-hitter Jarrod Saltalamacchia to ground out.

A positive for the Tigers continues to be the bullpen. Buck Farmer threw two scoreless innings and Blaine Hardy one. Tigers relievers have allowed two runs in the last 26⅓.1 innings.

Tigers have no plans to alter starting times

Twitter @cmccosky