Mets right-hander Justin Verlander had a rough first outing coming out of the All-Star break in Friday night’s 6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The veteran uncharacteristically walked three batters over the first two innings but was able to dance out of danger each time. Verlander seemed to be settling into a groove, as he retired the next six hitters in a row, including three strikeouts.
However, the struggles with command returned in the fifth, and they doomed him this time around.
Verlander issued three consecutive walks to the seventh, eighth, and ninth hitters to load the bases. A batter later, Mookie Betts picked up the Dodgers’ first hit of the game with an RBI single. Freddie Freeman followed that up with a two-run double, making it 3-0 LA.
He was able to get out of the inning but was booed off the mound as his night came to an end. Verlander allowed three runs on two hits while striking out six and walking a season-high six, just 59 of the 104 pitches he threw were strikes.
The future Hall of Famer said he simply lost a feel for his pitches during the outing but he called the six walks “inexcusable.”
“When you lose a feel for your pitches you try to reign it in as quickly as possible. It’s happened to me many times and this one took a little longer than I would’ve liked. I was trying to limit the damage after that and unfortunately, the double that Freeman hit was a real backbreaker.
“I was able to navigate the first few but that just can’t happen, especially with the bottom of the order there. As good as the top of their lineup is to roll it over in that situation with walks is the last thing you want to do,” he said. “You can’t walk six guys and expect to win a ballgame or give your team a chance.”
While it was a relatively rough outing overall, raising his ERA to 3.72, Verlander was able to take some positives away from throwing 4.1 no-hit innings against a tough lineup.
“I didn’t see many good swings off me today at all,” he said. “Stuff wise and reaction wise I think it was good, the six walks is going to be what keeps me up tonight. Hopefully, come back, get the feeling again and go on a roll.”
With the pitching struggling mightily, and the offense managing just one hit, the Mets certainly didn’t start the second half the way they had hoped. Despite that, Verlander isn’t ready to give up just yet.
“This was not a good game of baseball in any facet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t go on a roll. We played good baseball going into the break and I’ll be damned if one game is going to be the end all,” he said.
“We got beat pretty handily but there’s tomorrow and that’s the great thing about baseball. This wasn’t how anyone in this locker room would’ve liked to have started it, but hopefully tomorrow we get back to playing that brand of baseball we were playing before.”