Phillies victimized by Verlander in loss to Tigers

DETROIT - The fans at Comerica Park rose to their feet Tuesday night as Justin Verlander stoically walked to the dugout, his glove held by the right hand that perplexed the Phillies for eight innings in a 3-1 loss to the Tigers.

The pitcher's night was finished. Odubel Herrera - the victim of Verlander's 10th strikeout of the night - was left pondering the fastball he missed as the pitcher listened to the cheers. It was the 32nd time in Verlander's career, and the third time this season, that he struck out 10 batters. Verlander walked two and allowed three hits without yielding a run.

The Phillies had just one runner in scoring position against Verlander and never had more than one runner on base. He was nearly untouchable behind excellent fastball command.

"It was a little bit tough to get on top of the ball," said Freddy Galvis, who doubled off Verlander in the first. "He was controlling the corners really good. He made really good pitches today. That's the way it is."

The Phillies were able to threaten in the ninth once Verlander was lifted. The first two batters, Galvis and Maikel Franco, reached base against Tigers closer Francisco Rodriguez.

Tommy Joseph drove in Galvis with a sacrifice fly. Joseph's line drive nearly fell in for a double, which would have put the tying run in scoring position. Manager Pete Mackanin was pleased with Joseph, who went 1 for 3. Joseph "hit the ball on the nose four times," Mackanin said.

The rally proved to be short-lived. Ryan Howard grounded into the shift for the second out. He finished 1 for 4. Howard's single in the second inning snapped an 0-for-18 stretch. Carlos Ruiz struck out to end the threat. The save was the 400th of Rodriguez's career. He is sixth pitcher in major-league history to reach that mark.

"We battled today and played a good game in general," Mackanin said. "We just didn't come up with enough offense."

Verlander's performance overshadowed a strong outing by Jeremy Hellickson. The Phillies pitcher allowed three runs in seven innings. He struck out seven and walked one.

The righthander retired Miguel Cabrera twice after allowing a double to him in the first inning. Cabrera hit two homers on Monday. Hellickson struck him out in the third with a change-up, a pitch that Hellickson is starting to grow more comfortable with. Cabrera gave the pitcher a thumbs up before bouncing his helmet into the dirt.

"I got some easy outs and kept the pitch count down. The main goal was to go deep," Hellickson said. "I just had to hold them to zero, which I thought I could've."

It was the 12th time in 22 games this month that the Phillies scored three or fewer runs.

Hellickson yielded two of his runs in the sixth as the Tigers rallied behind a blunder by Franco. The third baseman misplayed a bouncing grounder when he tried to backhand it. The ball skipped into left field and J.D. Martinez was awarded a double. A run scored when Cabrera grounded out to Franco.

A second run came home on Victor Martinez's single to center. Franco then misplayed another ball as he had trouble transferring a grounder out of his glove. A would-be double play resulted in just an out.

Hellickson did not let the miscue cause additional harm as he struck out Steven Moya to end the sixth. Neither play was charged as an error to Franco, who has made four errors in May after having just one in April.

"He got to a certain spot and then he stopped and tried to snag it instead of taking one more step towards it," Mackanin said about the double that skipped past Franco. ". . . He could have gone through the ball instead of stopping and trying to snag it. I thought he could have done that."

mbreen@phillynews.com

@matt_breen