Tigers' Justin Verlander leaves start with shoulder issue
A rough season just got worse for Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander.
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Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander was lifted from his Monday night start against the Pirates (GameTracker) after just one inning of work because of right shoulder soreness. He's set to be re-evaluated on Tuesday. In that one inning of work -- the shortest start of his career -- Verlander allowed four runs on four hits while striking out three and walking two.
There's also this rather troubling dispatch:
One evaluator had Verlander's fastball at 88-90 mph tonight.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) August 12, 2014
Verlander hasn't been his usual self all season, as he's now pitched to a 4.76 ERA and a 2.15 K/BB ratio in 158 2/3 innings of work. Velocity loss is to be expected in any pitcher, of course, but Verlander's steep and broad decline suggests that perhaps this shoulder issue isn't a new one. An underlying injury would certainly partly explain his uncharacteristic struggles in 2014.
Normally, the Tigers could console themselves with their rotation depth, but recall that Anibal Sanchez recently hit the DL.
By way of reminder, Verlander still has $140 million left on his contract.
