Golf Secrets

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Justin Verlander is throwing the ball so well that if his winning streak was going to end, perhaps it must end with what The Baseball Guide used to call a minimum-score contest.

Verlander lost Tuesday night to Angels right-hander Dan Haren, 1-0. He was lights out, Verlander said.

Thus ended the finest streak of Verlanders career. He was 7-0 in his last seven starts and 9-0 in his last 11 starts. When he finally lost, it was with the first 1-0 loss of his career.

• BOX SCORE

To the Tigers, the only run was dubious. It was scored in the second inning by Howie Kendrick after he reached base on a one-out tapper to short.

Jhonny Peralta charged Kendricks ball and threw on the run to first. His throw was a little high and floated with a bit of an arc. First baseman Victor Martinez reached for it. Kendricks foot came down on the bag. Veteran umpire Joe West ruled safe on a bang-bang play. Tigers manager Jim Leyland came out to argue.

Leyland wouldnt declare to reporters afterward that West missed the call. But Leyland, ejected by West four innings later for reasons neither would specify, concluded his post-game media session with an obvious reference to the disputed way Kendrick reached base in the inning that he scored:

(Verlander) was terrific, Leyland said. Danny Haren was terrific. They got one run; we got none. But thats a shame. It should have been a scoreless game.

Once Kendrick reached base, he scored a pure Angels run – one built on the aggressiveness the team has featured in Mike Scioscias dozen years as its manager.

With Kendrick running on a 2-0 pitch, Erick Aybar pulled the ball past the diving Martinez and into rightfield. I havent looked at (the video), Verlander said of that pitch. I dont know if it was in on the (corner) where I wanted it.

Rightfielder Magglio Ordoñez fielded Aybars before it got into the corner, spun and fired toward second.

Kendrick never stopped and third-base coach Dino Ebel waved him home. As the ball came into second, Kendrick was heading home with what became the games first run. Ty Cobb would have loved it, even if the current Tigers couldnt feel the same way.

Its one of those in-between ones, Leyland said. Good baserunning by Kendrick – he ran hard – and a great call by their third-base coach – he saw the throw to second and continued waving him.

Thats a tough one. (The ball) doesnt really get by (Ordoñez) where youre going out in a double-relay situation. So that was a tough one, the way that one developed.

Verlander became engaged in a sixth-inning dispute with the umpires. It appeared to be something about not wiping his hand off after going to his mouth. He got ejected by third-base umpire Angel Hernandez as he left the game in the eighth. Then he yelled at West from the first-base dugout.

Verlander began his post-game session with reporters by saying he wouldnt discuss any aspect of the umpiring.

Its a tough loss for us, and hopefully we can turn it around tomorrow, Verlander said of todays series finale.

For the fourth time in their last five series, the Tigers have lost the first two games of a three-game series. In the first three of those series, they won the finale to avoid a sweep.

Verlander (11-4) lost for the first time since before his no-hitter, for the first time since April and for the first time since – starting with the no-hitter – he ascended to a new all-around realm of pitching dominance.

With his nine-game winning streak at an end, Verlander said, If I pitch well, I feel like Im capable of long stretches (of winning). I feel I threw the ball better than last time (his win over the Mets). I want to continue to stay on that page, and hopefully Ill start another streak.

The game featured one of the most memorable Verlander innings of the season: His escape from a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the fifth.

Aybar led off that inning by dropping a bloop single in front of Ordoñez. Mark Trumbo pulled a hard grounder toward the left-field corner on which third baseman Don Kelly made a diving stop toward the line.

Kelly got up and overthrew first. The ball went in the stands. The Angels had runners at second and third with none out.

Then Verlander walked No. 8 hitter Peter Bourjos on four pitches, and the bases were loaded.

Verlander fanned No. 9 hitter Jeff Mathis swinging on a 2-2 breaking ball. Next was leadoff man Maicer Izturis, who popped up on the first pitch.

Then it was Torii Hunter against Verlander, who threw all fastballs. Hunter got ahead, 2-0. The count went full. Hunter fouled a pitch, then lined the next one to center. Austin Jackson didnt have to move much to haul it in.

After all that work Verlander did to keep it 1-0 in the fifth, the Tigers never got another baserunner.

Both men who got hits off Haren reached third.

With two out in the third, just after the Angels had gone ahead, Jackson tripled to center. Brennan Boesch tapped out to Haren to strand Jackson.

Martinez flied to the track for the final out of Harens 1-2-3 fourth. Peralta singled to lead off the fifth and moved to third on a pair of outs – the second on a bunt by No. 8 hitter Ryan Raburn. The official scorer didnt give Raburn a sacrifice, which means he believes Raburn was bunting for a hit.

It wasnt really a good play, Leyland said of the bunt. With no outs it might have been OK. I talked to him about it. I told him, ‘The idea might not have been the right idea, but at least you had an idea. You were thinking about trying to win a game. I dont have any problem with that.

As Leyland pointed out, Raburn left the inning up to the No. 9 hitter, Don Kelly, with two outs. Kelly popped out, and the Tigers had stranded a runner at third for the second time.

And Haren had launched his streak of retiring the Tigers final 15 hitters of the game.

BOESCH EXITS: Boesch bruised his right knee with a foul ball in the third inning during the at-bat in which he stranded Jackson. Andy Dirks replaced him in leftfield in the bottom of the inning. Leyland said he wasnt sure if Boesch would play in todays game.

Similar Posts:

• Detroit 6, Minnesota 4: Justin Verlander struggled, but Tigers lift him to 20th win
• Detroit 6, Arizona 0: Justin Verlander sets new career high with 14 strikeouts in Tigers’ win
• Yanks pound Indians
• Live scoring: Tigers try to take series finale against Twins
• Detroit 10, Baltimore 6: Tigers get split vs. Orioles