New York Mets' Justin Verlander Gives Up Back-to-Back Home Runs in Return to Detroit
New York Mets ace and future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander made his much-anticipated season debut on Thursday afternoon against his former team, the Detroit Tigers.
After signing a two-year, $86.67 deal with the Mets this offseason, he was placed on the injured list on Opening Day with a right teres major strain.
Verlander spent parts of 13 years in Detroit, helping lead the Tigers to playoff appearances in 2006, and 2011-2014. He also helped the organization reach the World Series in 2006 and 2012, where they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants, respectively.
Verlander carved out his Hall of Fame resume in Detroit, where he made six American League all-star teams and won the Rookie of the Year award (2006) and Cy Young Award (2011). He also won the MVP award in 2011, led the league in wins twice (2009, 2011) and ERA (2011) with the team.
But rather than just welcome Verlander back and shower him with praise, the Tigers elected to give Verlander a rude homecoming, hitting back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the first inning.
The second batter of the bottom of the first, Riley Greene, and the third, Javy Baez, each took Verlander deep. The Baez home run came on a fastball and was ripped out to right center field. You can watch it below:
For his career, Verlander is 244-133 with a 3.24 ERA (entering Thursday). He won additional Cy Young awards in 2019 and 2022 with the Astros while helping lead Houston to a title in 2022.
For the season, Greene is hitting .256 while Baez is up to .242. Greene now has three home runs and nine RBI while Baez has two home runs and 13 RBI.
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