Justin Verlander wraps the Detroit Tigers’ bats in the Houston Astros’ 9-3 win

Houston Astros right-hander Justin Verlander, returning to Comerica Park as a visiting starter for the fifth time, finished his outing Sunday as he did so many times during his time with the Detroit Tigers from 2005 to 2017 : send an overmatched batter to the shelter. — in this case, Spencer Torkelson for the third time in a row, on a popout.

Verlander, a nine-time All-Star and three-time Cy Young winner, allowed just two hits in seven scoreless innings. The 41-year-old mixed and located his fastball, slider and curveball to perfection, including a series of elevated fastballs, to produce eight strikeouts and numerous weak contacts.

It was a vintage performance.

OLD FRIEND: Justin Verlander says ‘fate’ will decide if he returns to Tigers before retirement

The Tigers lost 9-3 to the Astros in the series finale Sunday at Comerica Park, losing two of three games. Verlander, making his fifth start of 2024 after a shoulder injury in the spring, limited the Tigers to two hits and two walks while throwing 95 pitches.

The Tigers (20-20) have lost seven of their last nine games, dropping three straight series. In the last loss, four pitchers allowed 18 hits and three walks to the Astros. The offense, meanwhile, finished with six hits and three walks, although the four hits (and three runs) in the bottom of the ninth inning were too little, too late.

NEW AS ON THE BLOCK: Unfair to compare? Tarik Skubal took over Justin Verlander’s job as Tigers ace

Verlander retired the first 14 batters he faced.

His perfect game was interrupted by two outs in the fifth inning, when Colt Keith dominated a two-strike curveball that bounced slowly off third baseman Alex Bregman. The ball rolled too slowly for Bregman’s off-target throw to beat Keith at first, resulting in an infield single — despite his meager 46.5 mph exit velocity.

Verlander got into trouble in the sixth inning, when he walked Carson Kelly and Riley Greene and hit Mark Canha – all with two outs – to load the bases, but he escaped the jam. The Tigers stranded the bases loaded, as Matt Vierling lined out to left field on the slider of Verlander’s first pitch into the strike zone.

Keith almost hit the first home run of his MLB career in the second inning. He pulled a 93.2 mph fastball from Verlander for a 383-foot flyout to right-center field, the toughest part of the ballpark. Keith’s blast would have been a home run at 15 of 30 parks, but not at Comerica Park.

Verlander, whose fastball averaged 93 mph and maxed out at 95 mph, returned for the seventh inning. He walked around a one-out double from Andy Ibáñez to complete his brilliant start.

In the ninth inning, Akil Baddoo collected the Tigers’ third hit with a triple to the right corner off right-handed reliever Seth Martinez in his first MLB plate appearance this season.

Baddoo then scored on a miss, cutting the deficit to 9-1. After a Kerry Carpenter single, Torkelson made it 9-3 with his first homer of the season, a two-run shot to left field on Martinez’s center sweeper. He hit the ball 405 feet with an exit velocity of 109 mph.

It was Torkelson’s first home run in his 38th game and 164th plate appearance.

(MUST LISTEN: Do“Days of Roar” your must-have Detroit Tigers podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) )

Jack be nimble

Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty nearly matched Verlander, scoreless inning for scoreless inning; he allowed three runs on seven hits in 6⅔ innings, but the only real damage came in the sixth. He did not allow a walk and generated seven strikeouts.

In the sixth, Mauricio Dubón pushed a fastball up and down into right field for a single, and Kyler Tucker lofted a slider up and down to right field for a two-run homer.

It looked like a Tucker golf swing.

JEFF SEIDEL: “Mama Flare” raised Jack Flaherty as a single parent. His advice helped him join the Tigers

The two-run homer gave the Astros the lead, 2-0.

Flaherty scored the third run in the seventh. Bregman hit a leadoff single, and after Flaherty finished his outing with consecutive outs, Bregman scored for a 3-0 advantage on a single by Joey Loperfido on left-handed reliever Joey Wentz’s second pitch.

Flaherty, whose fastball averaged 93.2 mph, generated 12 whiffs on 47 swings — a 25.5 percent whiff rate — with four fastballs, four sliders and four curveballs.

He has a 3.88 ERA in eight starts.

After he left, everything went downhill.

Oh, this enclosure

A trio of relievers – Wentz, right-hander Alex Lange and right-hander Will Vest – allowed six runs.

Lange had the worst performance.

DAVE CALENDINE: Songs in the Key of (Old English) D: Tigers Debut, Comerica Park Organist vs. Astros

He allowed five hits and two walks, allowing four runs in the eighth inning. He also had a wild throw. Vest stranded the bases loaded by retiring consecutive batters – Jeremy Peña and Yordan Alvarez – to end the eighth.

The eighth started with Alvarez’s double against Lange.

The Astros took a 9-0 lead with Jake Meyers’ RBI single against Vest in the top of the ninth.

Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] or follow him @EvanPetzold.

Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Days of Roar” every Monday afternoon on demand on freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And find all our podcasts and daily voice briefings at freep.com/podcasts.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: The Detroit Tigers managed just 2 hits against Justin Verlander in a 9-3 loss.