Justin Verlander was scratched from his scheduled return start on Sunday after a left hamstring strain was found following a bullpen session in Houston. The change pushes back his first start at Comerica Park since Aug. 20, 2017 and adds another delay to a return that had already taken far longer than planned.
Verlander at Comerica Park
The 43-year-old was set to make his first start wearing the Olde English D at Comerica Park since Aug. 20, 2017. Instead, the Tigers turned to Keider Montero, who is expected to pitch Sunday in his place.
That swap came after Verlander reported the injury during a scheduled bullpen session in Houston. Scans then showed the hamstring strain, ending the brief window in which he seemed ready to rejoin the rotation at home.
A.J. Hinch on weeks
A.J. Hinch did not frame the setback as a short pause. “This is not a matter of days,” he said Friday. “It’s a matter of weeks.”
That timeline leaves Verlander in a longer recovery cycle than a routine tune-up between starts. He already spent time on the 60-day injured list, pitched two rehab games, and has thrown a handful of live bullpen sessions while dealing with varying velocity and mixed results.
Hao-Yu Lee and the buildup
The injury came after a stretch that already showed how uneven the rebuild had been. Verlander has pitched only once this year, leaving his March 30 outing in Arizona after surrendering five earned runs in 3 2/3 innings.
His recent work has not smoothed the path back. In his second rehab game, he gave up four home runs, and on Monday in Houston, Hao-Yu Lee tagged him for a single, a double and a home run.
Verlander said Friday that he wants to keep going. “I’ve always said I want to play until the wheels fall off,” he said. “And I don’t know, maybe they are falling off. I hope not.” He also said, “This whole process has been agonizingly long for me,” and, “There’s no giving up.”
The Tigers still have to carry the rotation without him for now, while Verlander goes through the rehab work needed before he can throw again. On a one-year, $13 million deal, he had been trying to get back to the mound at home; instead, Sunday becomes another reset point in a season already defined by stop-start progress.
