Tigers pencil in Justin Verlander to start Tuesday

Justin Verlander is back in the Detroit Tigers' starting rotation.

Before today's series finale against the Chicago White Sox, manager Brad Ausmus said the team is expecting the Tigers right-hander to start Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

There was no update on Verlander's mid-back stiffness at the time but, Ausmus said before today's game, "We have it set up for him on Tuesday so I'm waiting to confirm he's OK."

It turns out he's OK.

Verlander threw a bullpen session before Saturday's postponement and checked out fine. He then threw off flat ground in leftfield before the Tigers beat the White Sox 5-4 on a walk-off home run by James McCann.

Ausmus said the mid-back stiffness, which forced him from his third start of the regular season on June 24 against the Indians, won't force the Tigers to limit his pitch count.

"I think as long as he feels fine, we're going to let him go," Ausmus said. "The back wasn't caused by 115 pitches – he felt it before 115 pitches, he felt it in the fourth inning – so we're certainly not going to scale him back to 80 pitches.

"How he feels and the game will dictate how deep he goes."

Verlander has allowed eight earned runs on 13 hits over 11 2/3 innings since returning from the disabled list with a right triceps strain, which sidelined him from the outset of the regular season.

Contact Anthony Fenech: afenech@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @anthonyfenech.