Mets' Justin Verlander aces first and likely only rehab game
All that is left for Justin Verlander to do now is actually pitch for the Mets.
A month removed from straining a muscle near his right armpit, Verlander made his first and probably only rehabilitation start Friday afternoon, tossing 69 pitches across 4 2/3 innings for Double-A Binghamton.
He struck out six, walked one and gave up two hits against Cleveland’s Double-A club.
“Felt good physically,” said manager Buck Showalter, who watched the outing online from Citi Field. “It’s good. Got him up close to 70 (pitches). See where we go from there. See how he recovers tomorrow. So far so good.”
Verlander told reporters in Binghamton: “I feel good. No issues physically. I should be ready to go whenever they say.”
Signed during the offseason to a two-year, $86.7 million contract, Verlander described himself as “very, very eager, very excited” to make his Mets debut, which is likely to come during the Mets’ series in Detroit next week.
“That would be assuming that we’re not going to have another start,” Showalter said. “That’s all in play, what you’re talking about. I don’t want to get too far ahead of it till we get a chance to talk to Justin.
“That was the plan. That’s still the plan. But I’m leaving all things until I talk to Justin and (pitching coach Jeremy Hefner) and (trainer Joe Golia) and see what the best way is for him long-term. I’m not going to count anything yet.”
Verlander strained his teres major muscle last month shortly before the season started. That “took longer to heal than we anticipated,” he said Friday, because “the area it was in, we had to be quite cautious.”
But he seemed confident that is behind him.
“I’m doing everything I can to be back and be successful,” he said. “One rehab start hopefully is enough and I can dial it in at the big-league level."
Stay tuned
Max Scherzer is scheduled to return from his 10-game suspension to pitch Monday against Atlanta. But that can happen only if all three preceding games in the series also get played. Otherwise, he will not have sat out for 10 games yet.
With rain expected through Sunday night, it could be a tricky weekend to get three games in.
“I do know that doubleheaders are killers. They’re tough,” Showalter said. “It messes with your bullpen, it messes with your rotation, and in our case it messes with a player coming off a suspension. If you see us rained out, you know it’s a really bad forecast.”
Extra bases
Brett Baty was in the lineup against a lefthanded starter, Max Fried, for the first time this season. “Our other options —,” Showalter said, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s good experience for (Baty). It gives Fried a little different look that he normally doesn’t see . . . I think Brett is up to the challenge.” . . . Francisco Alvarez was also in the lineup. He departed an inning early Thursday after getting hit in the head by a back swing . . . Stephen Nogosek (right elbow bone bruise) said he is ready to be activated after a pair of rehab appearances. He is eligible to return from the injured list Sunday. Showalter said he would consider starting him . . . A very happy Jose Quintana said he played catch for the first time since rib surgery last month. “No pain at all,” he added . . . During batting practice, the Mets hosted several show dogs from the Westminster Kennel Club in advance of the Westminster Dog Show next month.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
