Justin Verlander just might be the most valuable player on the Tigers, depending on how you feel about Miguel Cabrera and positional adjustments, but he isn't invincible. In the top of the fifth, Verlander walked Ian Kinsler with one out. Then Elvis Andrus singled, putting runners on first and second with Josh Hamilton coming up.
Tigers vs. Rangers: Verlander Is Mortal, Texas Ties Game At 2-2
Hamilton turned the fastball around for a solid single, tying the game at 2-2. So Verlander isn’t invincible.
But he should be, dang it. How do you hit a 99-m.p.h. fastball? How do you hit one of those, especially when he throws a plus-curve and plus-change too? How can you make the decision to swing and execute a good swing in the split-second it takes for a pitch to go from Verlander’s hand to the time you’ve committed to a swing?
Be Josh Hamilton, I guess. It’ll never cease to amaze me. That’s probably why these guys make more than $10 per hour to do what they do.
After Hamilton's single, Verlander still had trouble to wriggle out of. There was a runner on third with one out, but Verlander struck out Michael Young on a sequence of fantastic pitches, which is sort of Verlander's thing. Adrian Beltre had an excellent at-bat, though, missing a home run by ten feet when it sailed foul, and sending one to the warning track for the final out of the inning.
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