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Detroit Tigers’ Justin Verlander leaves game with leg cramp

By Kyle Franzoni

Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander (35) pitches during Monday mornings workout at Joker Merchant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports
Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander (35) pitches during Monday mornings workout at Joker Merchant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports /
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Former American League MVP and Cy Young winner Justin Verlander was forced from his Friday start for the Detroit Tigers with a leg cramp.

Already facing questions about his decline as an ace and watching the Detroit Tigers hand his Opening Day start to David Price, Justin Verlander really needed a clean spring in order to get himself back in the game. Unfortunately, he got dealt a pretty poor hand on Friday when he was forced to leave his start against the Toronto Blue Jays with an apparent injury.

With one out in the bottom of the third inning, Blue Jays second baseman Ryan Goins bounced a grounder to first baseman Alex Avila, who promptly flipped to Verlander for the out. However, both Tigers manager Brad Ausmus and head trainer Matt Ranking immediately came out of the dugout to check on Verlander, according to Jason Beck of MLB.com.

No one wants to see a starting pitcher going down this close to the regular season, and the Tigers can’t afford for Verlander to be missing any time, especially after losing fellow ace Max Scherzer to the Washington Nationals during free agency. However, it appears that both Verlander and the Tigers may have dodged a bullet when it was revealed later that the injury was just a leg cramp and Verlander was simply removed as a precaution.

No doubt that the rainy conditions certainly didn’t help matters, and it was even less of a consolation for the Tigers when the game was later delayed in the bottom of the 5th inning with the Blue Jays winning 4-1.

For Verlander, it was the continuation of a tough spring, with the right-hander struggling to a 6.08 ERA and just 8 strike-outs in 13.1 innings of work. Coming off a season where he saw his ERA climb to 4.54, his strike-outs per nine-innings fall to a career low 6.95, and his fastball velocity decline to a career-worst 93.1 MPH, Verlander was looking for a bounce-back campaign in 2015.

Of course, maybe we’re making a bit more out of these cramps than we need to. Perhaps Justin Verlander should just observe a longer wait-time in between his coffee stops and taking the mound.

Next: Masahiro Tanaka named Opening Day starter for Yankees

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