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Detroit Tigers: Rare lengthy walk, Verlander sim game, Nathan update

By Dave Holcomb

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Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera may not be the fastest of baseball players in the league today (Ok, he might be one of the slowest), but he could have crawled around the bases in the time it took the umpiring crew to award him a walk in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s game against the Pirates.

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There was some confusion as to whether Cabrera swung and/or foul tipped a 3-2 pitch from Pirates pitcher Mark Melancon. After crossing the plate, the ball nailed the home plate umpire in the face mask, which added to the confusion because the umpire did not make a ruling.

The home plate ump left for the locker room, and one of the other umpires went with him to change into the protective gear to take over behind the plate.

Initially, the umpires ruled the play a foul ball, and Cabrera’s at-bat would continue. When the new home plate umpire returned, however, they rewarded Cabrera a walk.

Closer Joe Nathan has hardly been missed as Joakim Soria recorded his fourth save of the season already on Wednesday, but it was reassuring to hear Nathan threw without pain on Wednesday.

Starter Justin Verlander wasn’t so lucky.

He didn’t exactly say he felt pain in his throwing shoulder, but Verlander described it as an achy feeling. Due to the fatigue, Verlander cut his simulated game on Wednesday and is still not ready to start.

Tigers fans have no idea when Verlander will return to game action.

Detroit Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera awarded first base with walk following lengthy delay in ninth inning – Chris Iott, MLive.com

"Pirates relief pitcher Mark Melancon delivered a 3-2 pitch to Cabrera that was high and out of the strike zone. Cabrera clearly checked his swing as the ball glanced off the glove of catcher Francisco Cervelli and hit home-plate umpire Jerry Layne in the mask.Cervelli chased the ball and both he and Cabrera appeared to appeal to first-base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt. But there were two problems. One, it didn’t appear that Layne had ever made a ruling, so there was really nothing to appeal. Two, the umpires seemed to be focused on Layne’s condition originally. From where they were, it’s very likely that it appeared as if Cabrera had fouled off the pitch.But since he hadn’t fouled off the pitch, he was had either walked or struck out."

Joe Nathan pleased with ‘first step’ in arm rehab – Anthony Fenech, Detroit Free Press

"The right-hander said everything felt good physically and that there was no pain in his elbow.There was some expected fatigue, he said, but it was good fatigue: “I want to get to that point with some fatigue.”Nathan will rest on Thursday and throw again Friday."

Verlander tired in sim game; won’t start Tuesday – Chris McCosky, The Detroit News

"In all, it was an 80-pitch outing for Verlander — 35 in the bullpen and 45 against hitters. He was scheduled to throw at least four innings of 15 pitches to Andrew Romine, Hernan Perez and bullpen catcher John Murrian. He stopped after the third inning because he was tired and achy, but, most significantly, there was no pain in the triceps.“Obviously you want to go out there and feel nothing, but I fatigued a little quicker than I would have liked,” Verlander said. “But I didn’t feel any pain or grabbing where the injury occurred. That was a big positive.“It’s been 20 days (since the injury) and the most I’ve thrown is a bullpen (40 pitches). My bullpen today went pretty well, I didn’t feel anything, but I got a little fatigued after the first inning of the sim game.”"

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