to the American League Championship Series for the third consecutive year. Verlander defeated the Athletics in Game 5 of the ALDS for the second straight season and is one of four starting pitchers in Major League history to have multiple wins in elimination postseason games, joining Bob Gibson, Chris Carpenter, and Matt Cain. Verlander has thrown 30 consecutive scoreless innings in the postseason against the Athletics, a major league record for a pitcher versus one team surpassing Christy Mathewson's 28 scoreless innings against the Philadelphia Athletics from 1905 to 1911. Verlander is the second pitcher in Major League history with ten or more strikeouts and no runs allowed in back-to-back postseason games, joining Sandy Koufax in Games 5 and 7 of the 1965 World Series. In Game 3 of the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox, Verlander threw scoreless innings (running his 2013 postseason scoreless streak to innings) before surrendering a solo home run to Mike Napoli in the seventh. Despite giving up only that one run and striking out ten batters in eight innings, Verlander lost a 1–0 decision. It was Verlander's sixth career postseason game with ten or more strikeouts, more than any other pitcher in MLB postseason history. The eventual World Series champ Red Sox eliminated the Tigers in six ALCS games. In the 2013 postseason, Verlander was 1–1 with a 0.39 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 23 postseason innings; two of his starts involved the Tigers scoring no runs of offense. 2014 On January 9, 2014, Verlander underwent core muscle surgery. The Tigers projected that Verlander might miss Opening Day in the aftermath of his surgery but he eventually recovered just in time for when pitchers and catchers reported to training camp in February 2014. On March 16, Tiger manager Brad Ausmus announced that Verlander would make his seventh consecutive opening-day start on March 31. On April 12, Verlander got the first two hits of his major league career during a 6–2 road win over the San Diego Padres. This snapped a career 0-for-26 string. Verlander struggled in the first half of 2014. His strikeouts were down to 6.8 per nine innings pitched, as opposed to an average of 9.2 over the last five years. His ERA and WHIP in the season's first half were also elevated to 4.71 and 1.49 respectively. Verlander was not named to the AL All-Star team for the first time since