For the next several weeks we’ll be rolling out our list of the best The Moment’s of 2013. The list is the product of winnowing down 173 moments from April to October into the best twenty. They vary in their importance but all captivated us in an important way. A few are silly, a few are excellent plays, and a few will travel down in Tigers lore. I hope you enjoy it.

#13 – Verlander Duels Sonny Gray

click to play

One wouldn’t characterize the ending of this game as “good” or “something that didn’t make the author pout in disgust,” but the actual process of getting there was something else. Verlander had a rocky season, but he got it together down the stretch and was absolute nails in this game. He went seven innings, allowed four hits and a walk to go with 11 strikeouts including a really awesome battle in which he send Stephen Vogt down swinging with two on in the 5th. Gray was awesome in his own right, going 8 scoreless before the bullpens and managers decided a game that belonged to the starters. Several people proposed and I concurred that Verlander and Gray should have had to stay in the game until one of them lost it.

It was an amazing pitchers’ duel, even if it didn’t go the right way. The series did, and that’s really all that matters.

How Was The Game (October 5, 2013)