Tigers' Price named Opening Day starter, snapping Verlander's 7-year streak

For the first time since 2007, someone other than Justin Verlander will start Opening Day for the Detroit Tigers.

It might be David Price's only opener in a Tigers uniform, too.

Brad Ausmus announced Friday that Price will get the ball April 6 against the Minnesota Twins, snapping Verlander's run of seven-consecutive Opening Day starts. Price, who's a free agent at the end of the season, pitched the last two openers for the Tampa Bay Rays.

"Looking at it from a baseball perspective, I felt like this was the decision. It was not an easy decision," the Tigers manager told MLive's Chris Iott. "Ultimately I have to make a decision based on baseball for the 2015 Tigers, and I think I could have gone either way."

Verlander, 32, has struggled to regain his dominant form in recent years, pitching to the second-worst ERA of his career with a league-high 104 earned runs allowed in 2014. 

"I want to earn opening day," Verlander admitted. "I don't want to be handed opening day. ... I know I didn't earn it."

Ausmus said he expects Verlander, who was slowed by offseason core surgery and shoulder issues last season, to bounce back in a big way in 2015.

"Quite frankly," he said, "I hope a year from now Justin Verlander has the type of year that he has to pitch Opening Day."

Price, who was acquired from the Rays at the deadline last year, is coming off a career-high and major-league leading 248 1/3 innings and 271 strikeouts.The left-hander avoided arbitration with the Tigers this winter by agreeing to a record-setting $19.75-million deal.