Did Disastrous Outing Break Houston Astros Ace?
The Houston Astros desperately needed a spark heading into Tuesday night's series opener against the New York Yankees in the Bronx. Coming off back-to-back losses to the Seattle Mariners, the Astros were banking on a strong performance from Justin Verlander to get them back in the win column.
Unfortunately, Verlander wasn't up to the task, turning in his worst start of the season. He got pulverized to the tune of seven runs -- the most he's ever allowed to the Yankees -- on eight hits in five innings, suffering his first loss of the year.
Verlander simply wasn't able to stop the bleeding, yielding at least one run in four of his five innings and allowing the Yankees to cruise to a 10-3 victory. Houston has now lost Verlander's last three starts, scoring just six runs combined in those outings.
After the game, a visibly distraught Verlander sounded like a broken man during his postgame interview with reporters.
"Starting tomorrow I have a lot of work to do"
— Space City Home Network (@SpaceCityHN) May 8, 2024
--Justin Verlander after this outing tonight against the NYY - 5.0 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 3 BB, 2 K#Astros lose game 1 of the series 10-3 pic.twitter.com/vax8vEXgYQ
"They had a good approach and I wasn't very good," Verlander conceded. "These guys showed me today that I got some work to do. I got to be more deceptive."
Deception was lacking for Verlander, who surrendered more home runs (three) than he'd allowed in his previous three starts combined (two). He also acknowledged that walks have been an issue for him lately and spoke about going "back to the drawing board."
"If anything, I figured out that I need to be better. Starting tomorrow, I got a lot of work to do," said a deflated Verlander.
At 41 years old and with over 3,000 innings on his arm, Verlander seems to be running out of ways to fool batters. In four starts spanning 22 1/3 innings this season, he's allowed 21 hits, 11 runs, five homers and 10 walks while notching just 15 strikeouts, posting a horrendous 6.05 FIP.
Verlander's made plenty of adjustments over the last two decades, but the Astros need him to get back on track ASAP. With the way their season is going, they can't afford to have their best pitcher serving up batting practice.
The three-time Cy Young winner will try to right the ship this weekend against his former team, the Detroit Tigers.
TYLER MAHER
Tyler grew up in Massachusetts and is a huge Boston sports fan, especially the Red Sox. He went to Tufts University and played club baseball for the Jumbos. Since graduating, he has worked for MLB.com, The Game Day, FanDuel and Forbes. When he's not writing about baseball, he enjoys running, traveling, and playing fetch with his golden retriever.