Detroit Tigers: Justin Verlander Denies Anthony Fenech from Clubhouse

The Detroit Tigers entered Wednesday evening as a heavy underdog (-520) as they were on the road in Houston taking on Justin Verlander and company.  Wouldn’t you know it, the Detroit Tigers found a way to win the game and embarrass Vegas for a hot minute.

Justin Verlander pitched a gem.  He hurtled a two-hitter and somehow lost because both of those hits found their way over the fence.  For the former Detroit Tigers ace, it must have felt like Deja Vu.  Throw a complete-game two-hitter, surrender a mere two runs, and absorb the loss. I can’t even tell you how many times this seemed to happen to Verlander during his time in Detroit; it seemed every second time he pitched at times.

The Detroit Tigers were able to match Verlander’s brilliant performance with one of their own, just by a committee not only Daniel Norris who started the game.  Norris fired three scoreless innings, allowing a pair of hits and struck out two.

He gave way to Tyler Alexander.  Tyler tossed four innings allowing three hits and the lone Astros run that come way of Robinson Chirinos. Buck Farmer entered the game in the eighth inning, throwing a clean frame.  Farmer would later claim the win.  Joe Jimenez locked down the ninth inning but not before an exciting finish.

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Chirinos hit a ball to the right-field gap.  When Travis Demeritte dove and came up empty, Robinson tried to turn the double into a triple.  It took a perfect relay from Harold Castro to Gordon Beckham to Dawel Lugo to nap Chirinos at third to end the ball game preserving a rare Detroit Tigers win. Robinson was trying to complete the cycle when he was cut down at third.  The Tigers got their pair of solo home runs from Ronnie Rodriguez and John Hicks.

The real fireworks came after the game when Justin Verlander refused to speak to any credentialed reporters if writer Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press were in the room. As much as I cheer for Justin Verlander, I will say he has been somewhat confrontational in the past.  I’m not sure why Verlander couldn’t have just answered Fenech’s question with the ole ‘next question’ answer.  Justin commented on the situation Thursday via twitter;

I had no problem with Verlander expressing himself about his theory on the baseball’s being juiced and Major League Baseball knowing about it. It was a bit comical, and I think he may have a point.  But this is a bit much. 

Fenech’s response;

It just seems odd that it took three Houston Astros security guards to stop Fenech from entering the press conference. In an article published by the Associated Press they describe the situation and when Fenech was granted permission to enter the media scrum;

"The Astros opened their clubhouse at 9:35 p.m. As the rest of the media was allowed to enter, Fenech, who has a credential issued by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, was stopped by three Astros security officials.Fenech contacted MLB vice president of communications Mike Teevan and was allowed in at 9:41 p.m., after Verlander had concluded his media session. Fenech approached Verlander, who said: ”I’m not answering your questions.”"

Verlander might have been anticipating a remark about the Tigers having his number.  The Tigers aren’t winning many games these days, Verlander may have just been embarrassed. Although Verlander claims Fenech displayed an unethical behavior towards one of his Astros teammates during a previous encounter.

As a result of Wednesday night’s strange incident violated the MLB club-media regulations. A grievance will be filed, and a fine to the Houston Astros organization will surely be handed out.