MLB

Verlander wants to relieve for Tigers in Game 5

DETROIT — Jim Leyland may not want to use Justin Verlander out of the bullpen in Game 5 tomorrow, but the Tigers ace has not given up hope that his manager might change his mind.

“I want to [be available], but he’s the manager and if he says I’m not gonna go, then he’s the manager,” Verlander told The Post. “I’ll be there. I’ll definitely be there.”

After Verlander threw 120 pitches over eight innings on Monday, Leyland was asked if the 24-game winner was done for the ALDS against the Yankees.

“I would say so, yes,” he said.

Leyland wants to keep Verlander healthy, not just for these playoffs, but for the future of the right-hander and the franchise.

“I wouldn’t do anything foolish,” Leyland said Monday night. “I try not to do anything foolish with any of my pitchers, let alone an arm like that.”

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Now, with the season on the line after last night’s 10-1 loss to the Yankees in Game 4, Leyland could change his mind.

But Verlander admitted he did not know what he would have left in his already taxed arm.

“Really, I have to wait and see how I felt,” Verlander said. “Of course it’s back there in your mind when a game like this comes up, but I have to wait and see how it feels [tomorrow].”

That attitude does not surprise his teammates.

“I know he’s gonna try to talk himself into the game,” third baseman Brandon Inge said. “I don’t know how much sense that makes.”

His presence in the bullpen would be hard to ignore.

Verlander has been durable, and though the Yankees touched him for four runs on Monday, he is the most dangerous arm the Tigers have, routinely hitting 100 mph on the radar gun.

After today’s off day, Verlander would be working on two days’ rest in tomorrow night’s series finale. With the season on the line, it would be hard for Leyland not to think about calling for Verlander — especially after last night’s debacle, when the pen gave up six runs in the eighth inning.

The Tigers’ bullpen, which features Al Alburquerque, Joaquin Benoit and closer Jose Valverde, was solid during the regular season, but has seemed shaky in the ALDS. Relatively untested right-hander Doug Fister is set to get the start for the Tigers tomorrow at Yankee Stadium.

Verlander has never made a major league relief appearance, but it’s hard to believe that if the situation arose, Leyland won’t at least be tempted to go to Verlander. Some might say it would be foolish not to.