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Royals beat Verlander for first time in 2-0 victory over Tigers
By BOB DUTTONThe Kansas City Star
It merits an asterisk, perhaps, that this Verlander seems to bear little resemblance to the guy who spent the last two summers dominating opponents — all opponents, not just the Royals.
Even so, the Royals were 0-6 against him in nine previous encounters. Plus, it’s not as if this was easy. The Royals scraped together two runs in the second inning, and that was it.
“Hey, the pitching is good right now,” said Joey Gathright, who drove in the game’s only runs with a two-out single. “We’ve got it going. When it works like that, we can win some games.”
Rookie right-hander Luke Hochevar and another dominant bullpen performance made it stand up. Hochevar, 3-2, worked six scoreless innings even if it did require some scrambling.
The Tigers put runners on base each inning from the second through the sixth, including two in the third and sixth. Hochevar always had an answer, though he benefited from two borderline strike-three calls in the sixth against Magglio Ordoñez and Marcus Thames.
“The other guy gives up two runs,” Hochevar said, “you give up one run (or none). That’s the game. You can’t give up a five-spot and expect to win.”
Hochevar limited the Tigers to four hits, all singles, while striking out five, walking three and lowering his ERA to 3.94.
Lefty reliever Ron Mahay worked a one-two-three seventh before exiting after Placido Polanco’s leadoff single in the eighth. Leo Nuñez then yielded a first-pitch single to Carlos Guillen.
It looked like trouble until Ordoñez grounded into a double play that included a nice turn by second baseman Mark Grudzielanek with Guillen bearing down. Nuñez ended the inning by retiring Miguel Cabrera on a grounder to short.
Joakim Soria pitched the ninth and got his 10th save. He struck out the first two hitters before retiring Edgar Renteria on a grounder to mound. That extended Soria’s seasonlong scoreless streak to 16 1/3 innings over 17 games.
“He’s a beast,” left fielder David DeJesus said. “You see the swings those guys are putting on him, and it’s like, ‘Well, all right. I’m glad he’s on our side.’ ”
It was the Royals’ second shutout in three games as they matched a season high with their third straight victory. They are also 5-0 this season against the Tigers while limiting them to seven earned runs in 47 innings.
“They’ve got a lot of good arms coming out of the bullpen,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “But we should not get shut out. (Hochevar) pitched very well, I certainly tip my hat to him. But I wouldn’t say that was shutout stuff.”
The Royals, 18-21, will try to complete a three-game sweep in this afternoon’s series finale. They began the season with a three-game sweep in Detroit, when they knocked out, but didn’t beat, Verlander in the opener.
Verlander, 1-7, has been one of the season’s biggest puzzlements — or disappointments. Take your pick. He entered the game with a 6.43 ERA after going 18-6 and 3.66 in 2007.
“He’s still got that fastball that runs away,” DeJesus said. “But it doesn’t seem he has that curveball that he can throw for strikes all of the time.
“Before, he used to bang you with that curveball, boom, and it was strike three. Now, he’s relying on that change-up a lot, and it’s a good pitch. But it’s not a devastating curveball or a 98-mph fastball.”
Verlander topped out around 94 mph but did get his second “quality start” in nine outings. He also lowered his ERA to 6.05 after giving up two runs in six-plus innings.
“He wasn’t perfect,” Leyland said, “but he was certainly good enough. He gave us every opportunity. We get four or five or six runs, he picks up a win; more important, we pick up a win.”
Instead, the Tigers lost for the ninth time in 11 games and fell to 16-24.
The Royals got the game’s only runs after opening the second inning with successive singles by Billy Butler and Mark Teahen, which put runners at first and third with no outs. Verlander caught a break when Butler broke for home on John Buck’s hopper to third.
The result was an easy out at the plate.
But Verlander loaded the bases by walking Tony Peña on four pitches before Gathright sliced a soft two-run single to left.
It wasn’t much. But it was enough to beat Verlander.
“That’s the first time ever?” DeJesus asked. “That’s crazy. Really?”
Really.