The return of an ace stabilizes the ship even when lost

In Justin Verlander’s first start of the season, he pitched like an ace.

No, he wasn’t particularly dominant. And no, the Mets didn’t win.

But Verlander, 40, took the mound Thursday afternoon at Detroit’s Comerica Park — the scene of many of his career highlights from his days with the Tigers — gave up back-to-back home runs in the first inning, then refused to give up. Even as the Tigers, one of baseball’s worst-scoring teams, turned several of Verlander’s pitches into hard-hit outs, he remained steadfast and kept the score close for five brave innings in which he had five hits, two runs, and one four. widely allowed. struckout five batters over 79 pitches.

In a season where both New York teams’ starting rotations seemed almost cursed with injuries and ineffectiveness, that was enough to find a ray of sunshine.

“You saw his stuff, so to speak, and speed and sharpness got a little bit better as the game went on,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said after the game. “I saw that he was chasing it in the last inning.”

He added: “I think that bodes well. The good thing is that he felt good physically. That was a highlight of the day.”

But there are still plenty of clouds.

The Mets, with the highest payroll in major league history (and a record tax bill on the horizon) then lost 2–0, completing a brutal three-game sweep of Detroit. They’ve lost nine of their last 11 games and saw their deficit to Atlanta in the National League East rise from half a game to six games after the Braves completed a three-game sweep of the Marlins with a 6-3 win on Thursday afternoon in Miami .

The season hasn’t gone much better for the Yankees, who have the worst record in the American League East (17-16) and struggled beyond their own ace, Gerrit Cole, in starting pitching.

At the start of the season, both rotations had been expected to be among the best in baseball. The Yankees, who already had three All-Star starters in Nestor Cortes, Luis Severino and Cole, added All-Star left-hander Carlos Rodón in free agency on a six-year, $162 million contract. The Mets, who already had the highest-paid starting pitcher in major league history, Max Scherzer, supplemented their ace with Verlander (earning him the same $43.3 million salary as Scherzer), while also signing Kodai Senga , a promising right-hander from Japan , and José Quintana, an accomplished left-hander who was solid for Pittsburgh and St. Louis last season.

Despite all that star power, the Yankees’ starting rotation came in 11th in the majors in ERA on Thursday at 4.07 — strongly supported by Cole’s sterling 1.35 effort — and the Mets were in 25th place at 5.56, which was nearly two full runs worse than them. were last season.

That is largely due to injuries. Rodón (elbow and back problems) and Severino (lat sprain) have yet to pitch this season, as has Quintana (rib surgery). Senga (3-1, 4.15 ERA) has provoked, even if his results have been mixed, but Cortes (3-2, 4.91), a breakout star last season, has disappointed.

Additionally, in his sophomore year with the Mets, Scherzer was ejected from the start against the Dodgers on April 19 and accepted a 10-game suspension for violating the MLB foreign substance ban. He struggled in his first game back from suspension, giving up six earned runs in three and a third innings in the second game of a doubleheader on Wednesday.

With a group of mostly substitute starters unable to carry the burden expected to be carried by their stars, the Yankees and Mets united to begin the season 33-31. At the same point last season, they were a combined 45-19.

How soon the cavalry will arrive remains an open question. It was announced this week that Rodón would undergo further testing on his back, and Quintana, who just started playing catch, is likely months away from a return. Severino is about to begin a rehabilitation period in Class A, but as he has pitched just 120 innings over the past four seasons, his health will need to be closely monitored.

And for all those reasons, it was positive to have Verlander come back and fight his way through a start, even if it came with a loss. Because that’s what aces do.