10

Justin Verlander knows as little about Phil Hughes’ current medical situation as everybody else, but the Tigers’ ace can certainly sympathize with the Yankee righthander when it comes to losing velocity on his fastball. In 2008, Verlander saw his heater wilt from an average of 95 mph to 91 mph, a major factor in his 11-17 record and 4.84 ERA. "My arm felt really good; it just wasn’t there," he said.
"I really focused the next year in spring training and traced it all back to an arm-slot issue. I got too high with my arm slot, which caused me to not have my natural whip. That’s a mechanical thing." Having figured out those mechanics, Verlander has averaged 95 mph on his fastball since 2009. The 28-year-old has kept an eye on Hughes’ story, hoping his All-Star teammate from a year ago can rebound. "I don’t really know his situation, but hopefully it’s something that simple," Verlander said. "He’s too good to see something like that happen. Hopefully he comes back strong, because he’s fun to watch when he’s right." TOUGH DAY FOR A.J. A.J. Burnett (4-2) took his second loss of the season, allowing five runs in seven innings - three of the runs unearned - while putting forth another solid effort.(wealthmass) "That’s the best I’ve felt out there in a while as far as repeating delivery out of both the windup and the stretch," Burnett said. "I threw a lot of hooks for strikes, which helped a lot. It’s a tough one to swallow." Burnett needed 20 pitches to get through the first, as the Tigers used a hit batsman and a two-base throwing error on a pickoff attempt to set up a sac fly, which was the game’s first run. Burnett settled down after that, throwing 20 pitches over the next two innings.
He carried a no-hitter into the sixth, but Ramon Santiago broke it up with a leadoff single. A single, a walk and a hit-by-pitch on a bunt attempt set the Tigers up in the seventh, as they scored three runs in the inning, two of them on Eduardo Nunez’s throwing error. "I pretty much threw the ball where I wanted to today with conviction," Burnett said. "To let it get away a little there in the seventh, it (Detroit Tigers)."