DETROIT — Kirby Yates did not need a save situation for his last trip to the mound. The 39-year-old right-hander got the ball to open Pittsburgh’s bullpen game Saturday at Comerica Park, then walked away from it for good after 12 major league seasons.
The Pirates fell 4-3 to the Tigers, but the afternoon carried a different kind of weight. Justin Verlander was also making his final start, and the two veterans gave Detroit a rare double farewell on the same field.
Quick facts
- Yates retired after 12 MLB seasons, 517 relief appearances and time with eight clubs.
- He finished with a 32-29 record, a 3.35 ERA, 101 saves and 672 strikeouts.
- Yates was a two-time All-Star and led the majors with 41 saves in 2019.
- His final line included two singles allowed, a double-play ball, a groundout and one strikeout.
- Yates and Verlander became the first regular-season starters, both age 39 or older, to make their final MLB appearances in the same game.
Yates began his career as an undrafted junior-college arm and did not reach the majors until age 27 in 2014. He never built the Hall of Fame résumé that Verlander carries, but he carved out an uncommon run of durability for a reliever who had to fight just to get in the door.
“Getting to the big leagues was really difficult, and then you learn how difficult it is to remain there,” Yates said. “I was able to stay for 12 or 13 years.”
He had approached Pirates manager Don Kelly earlier in the week about starting, initially with some humor behind the request. Pittsburgh had already planned a bullpen game, and Kelly handed Yates the opener against the Tigers.
The matchup made history beyond the emotion of the day. Yates and Verlander were the first pair of regular-season starting pitchers at least 39 years old to close their careers in the same game. They were also the third pair of final-game starters with 12 or more big league seasons, following Christy Mathewson and Mordecai Brown in 1916 and Paul Derringer and Vern Kennedy in 1945.
Verlander, 43, leaves as a three-time American League Cy Young Award winner, the 2011 AL MVP and a likely first-ballot Hall of Famer. Yates’ route was far less scripted, but he leaves with two All-Star selections, the 2019 saves crown and a career that outlasted almost every early expectation.
“I joke that I’m an overachiever,” Yates said. “I feel like I overachieved in every way I could. It’s bittersweet. I’m sad it’s done, but I’m proud of what I did. I left everything out there and I don’t regret anything.”
There was some traffic in his final appearance. Yates surrendered two singles to begin the first inning, then got a 5-4-3 double play to clear the bases. He returned for the second, induced a groundout and struck out Dillon Dingler for strikeout No. 672.
That was the finish. Kelly came out of the dugout, and Yates embraced each Pirates infielder before sharing one more hug with his manager. He stepped away from the mound, tipped his cap, kissed his glove and turned toward his family in the stands.
His wife, son and daughter were there for it. Before the game, Yates had waved to them while heading to the outfield, and his 8-year-old son had become a familiar presence around the Pirates after Yates joined the club at the trade deadline, playing clubhouse ping-pong and having catches in the outfield.
Yates said his children helped shape the decision to keep playing after surgery roughly five years ago. At that point, they did not fully understand what their father did for work; he wanted them to see him in uniform and understand that baseball had been his life.
“They mean a lot in all of this,” Yates said. “After the surgery, they only knew baseball was Dad’s job. They didn’t really understand that we went out and played games. I wanted to play long enough for them to see it and know what Dad did. Now they know the game pretty well.”
He admitted he felt nervous Friday night, an unfamiliar sensation for a pitcher with more than 500 big league outings. The atmosphere around Verlander’s finale had already promised a heavy day, and Yates knew his own career was ending with it.
As he departed, both dugouts stood and the Comerica Park crowd rose with them. Verlander joined in from the Tigers’ side. For Yates, it was a goodbye delivered on his own terms.
“I think I came to terms with it last year,” Yates said. “I wasn’t sure I would even play this season after last year, so that probably took away some of the emotion. I’m still sad, but I’m not unhappy. I’m at peace with it.”
