Due to neck pain, Verlander was scratched from the Astros’ game against the Tigers.

Houston (AP) — Due to neck stiffness, Houston Astros top pitcher Justin Verlander was left out of Saturday’s start against the Detroit Tigers.

Manager Joe Espada stated, “He’s been actually dealing with this for like the last two weeks, trying to pitch through it.” “And we thought it would be wise to just take a break here, skip a start, and try to figure out what’s going on.”

The Astros are optimistic that the right-hander, 41, won’t have to be placed on the injured list. His status is day-to-day.

Verlander stated, “Missing a start is not something you want to have happen.” However, in all honesty, day-to-day life is good. You just need to trust everyone you interact with, including the trainers.

Verlander stated that the issue forced him to shorten his bullpen session on Wednesday, but he had thought that he would be well enough to begin on Saturday.

He said, “It just kind of like flared up a little bit on me; it wasn’t worse.” “And it was a little stiff after a couple of my games, but I was still able to toss and finish everything I wanted to get done. However, it flared up on me during the bullpen a little bit, so I just kind of pulled the shoot and tried not to act foolishly by pushing it like I usually would.

In ten starts, the three-time Cy Young Award winner is 3-2 with a 3.95 ERA.

Because of neck stiffness, the Astros removed veteran ace Justin Verlander from his start against the Tigers earlier on Saturday. In place of Verlander, right-hander Spencer Arrighetti made a spot start but was chased out of the game in the second inning after giving up seven runs in just 1 1/3 innings of work.

Prior to the game this afternoon, Verlander talked with reporters, including Chandler Rome of The Athletic, and said that his neck has been troubling him for “a couple of weeks,” but up until now, he has tried to throw through it. Earlier this week, the pain forced him to shorten his typical bullpen between starts, although Verlander and manager Joe Espada both said that the problem probably won’t lead to