Justin Verlander Climbs Historic List in Season Debut on Friday
The Houston Astros got a much-needed victory on Friday night as they beat the Washington Nationals, 5-3. In the win, Justin Verlander made his season debut - and made some history.
The Houston Astros beat the Washington Nationals, 5-3, on Friday night in Washington. It was a much-needed win for the Astros, who are just 7-14 this year.
However, things are looking up after ace Justin Verlander made his season debut on Friday night. The 41-year-old went 6.0 strong innings, allowing just two earned runs on four hits. He walked none and struck out four.
He also continued to climb up the baseball record books, according to Matthew Brownstein of the New York Times:
That strikeout was the 3,343rd of Justin Verlander’s career, breaking the tie with Hall of Famer Phil Niekro and giving Verlander sole possession of the 12th-most strikeouts in MLB history.
Verlander is one of the lasts of a dying breed, a true workhorse pitcher. One of the best accomplished pitchers of the last 50 years, Verlander is now 258-141 for his career. Given the emergence of "bullpenning," he has a chance to become the last pitcher to reach 300 wins for quite some time.
He owns a lifetime 3.24 ERA and is in his 19th season with the Detroit Tigers, Astros and New York Mets. He helped Houston win the World Series in both 2017 and 2022. The Virginia native is a three-time Cy Young winner, a nine-time All-Star, a two-time ERA champion, a Rookie of the Year and an MVP.
The Astros will take on the Nationals again on Saturday afternoon at 4:05 p.m. ET. Ronel Blanco (2-0, 0.86 ERA) pitches for Houston against Trevor Williams (2-0, 3.45).
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