Verlander's simulated game cut short due to fatigue

PITTSBURGH – It was all a dream, Justin Verlander said.

The Detroit Tigers right-hander was going to walk onto the mound at PNC Park on Wednesday afternoon, throw 80 pitches in a simulated game, feel great – better than he has in weeks – and walk off with his first regular season start in sight.

"I think that was kind of my own dream reality having never been through anything like this," Verlander said.

But reality was different. Instead of 80 pitches, he threw 45. Instead of four innings, he threw three innings. And instead of making his next start in the major leagues, he will have to complete another simulated game or a rehab start in order to build up his pitch count.

Verlander didn't feel any pain or grabbing in the spot where his right triceps strain occurred, he said.

"That's a big positive," he said.

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But his outing was cut short because of fatigue, which has set in since he left his fourth spring training start on March 27 against the Blue Jays.

"I fatigued a little bit quicker than I would have liked," he said. "It's been 20 days and the most I've thrown is a bullpen. The bullpen went well, I didn't feel anything during the game, I just was a little fatigued after the first inning but all in all talking with the trainers, they said it should be a positive step."

It's not a big enough step to pencil him in for a start soon, though, manager Brad Ausmus said.

"You can't go from 45 pitches into a major league game," Ausmus said.

Verlander, he said, "looked real good the first two innings and then he just kind of got fatigued. You could tell he was getting tired."

Ausmus said they will check on Verlander tomorrow and determine the next step of action on Friday.

Both a second simulated game, "and/or" a rehabilitation start in the minor leagues are options, Ausmus said.

"He hadn't really been over 40 pitches and if you count the warm-ups, he threw 80 today, 35 in the bullpen and 40 off the mound," Ausmus said. "I just thought he got tired."

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About a minor-league rehabilitation start, Verlander said: "Obviously if I feel like I'm good enough to go on a rehab start, I feel like I'm good enough to pitch in the big leagues."

He threw all of his pitches in the 45-pitch simulated game, but cut down on his curveballs in the third inning.

"I didn't want to risk re-injuring anything, especially after the first bullpen I threw where I re-aggravated it," Verlander said. "I think the smart move was not to overly push it. I was pleased going back out for the third, how I responded. I was kind of fatigued in the second but went out another inning and it responded OK, it didn't get worse."

Verlander, 32, is due $28 million this season and in the four that follow, signed through 2019.

And although Ausmus wouldn't look ahead that far, it seems likely that left-hander Kyle Lobstein will make his second start of the season on Tuesday, the next date the Tigers need a fifth starter, and not Verlander.

Verlander termed his concern with the cramp-turned-strain "lower now" than in the past, when he said he had little to no concern.

"Being able to go through my bullpen and go out on the mound and not having it grab in that spot, it was great," he said. "Obviously, I wish it was perfect and I didn't feel anything but that's kind of a dreamer's reality, I guess."

Contact Anthony Fenech: afenech@freepress.com . Follow him on Twitter @anthonyfenech .