Justin Verlander has Solid New York Mets Debut

Ace pitcher Justin Verlander had a solid Mets debut on Thursday.

Although the Mets lost for the third straight game to get swept by the lowly Detroit Tigers, there was one silver lining.

Ace pitcher Justin Verlander returned to the mound and endured a solid Mets debut on Thursday.

Despite allowing back-to-back home runs in the first inning to Javier Baez and Riley Greene, Verlander settled down to retire 13 of the next 17 batters he faced.

Overall, Verlander went five innings, allowing two runs on five hits, while striking out five and walking one.

Verlander's fastball velocity sat around 95-96 mph during the game, and in his final inning of work he dialed it up to 97 mph.

“Everything felt good,” Verlander said. “No issues, physically. It felt like as the game went along, the velocity started to come a little bit too. So physically, overall, it was a good day.”

“The good thing is he felt good physically,” said manager Buck Showalter. “That was a highlight of the day.”

The Mets have lost nine of their last 11 games to drop to 16-16 on the season. But on the positive side, they now have both their aces back in Verlander and Max Scherzer.

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