Verlander provides spark on, off mound
WASHINGTON — His return imminent, Justin Verlander saw fit to rouse his reeling ballclub. A loss to Atlanta on Wednesday dropped the Astros to 6-14 and left them swept for the third time in their first six series. In its wake, Verlander spoke up.
“He talked to us after the series against Atlanta,” outfielder Chas McCormick said. The gist of Verlander’s message, McCormick said: “We’ve just got to turn it up a little bit. We’ve just got to play better.”
“Pretty much get our heads out of our asses,” utilityman Mauricio Dubón said, noting Verlander’s words were different: “But that’s what we got.”
Some 48 hours later, Verlander took the mound at Nationals Park for his season debut and spearheaded his own directive. In his return from a shoulder issue, Verlander spun six efficient innings against the Nationals, surrendering two runs while Houston’s offense strung together hits and its sputtering bullpen preserved a 5-3 win, the team’s third in its last 10 games.
That Houston’s injuryriddled rotation craved the stability Verlander offers was evident. Over its first 20 games, the group ranked in the bottom half of the majors in innings and owned the fourth-highest ERA. Not quantified in numbers is the presence a future Hall of Famer exudes. For any lingering questions of how the 41year-old would look after his layoff, that was missed.
“Knowing how he is out there and knowing how bad he wants it, it’s huge for us to play behind him and be locked in every single pitch, and it just gives us a little more juice when he’s out there,” McCormick said. “Obviously, we should have juice every single game. But there’s something about him that really gets us rolling.”
On Friday, Verlander was sharp and economical. He needed 78 pitches to complete six innings. He allowed four hits and did not walk a batter. He induced just four misses on 40 swings but got ineffective contact; just five of 17 batted balls in play against him carried an exit velocity above 87 mph.
“Pleasantly surprised, honestly,” Verlander said. “The control wasn’t quite what I would have liked in the rehab starts. I was just looking at mechanics and trying to find something to make it click. And I think what I worked on between last start and this start, just being a little more directional — I noticed it in my bullpen the other day and felt good and so I was like, ‘all right, I think that might be it.’ I carried it over to today and was able to make some pitches.”
Washington hitters were aggressive on Verlander’s fastball but fouled off half the 20 they swung at. They put nine of his secondary pitches into play with the only hit Jacob Young’s bunt single. He generated only two swing-and-misses on 34 sliders and curveballs but 10 yielded a called strike or foul ball.
“I would have liked to have seen the slider be a little sharper,” Verlander said. “I thought the changeup got some good results, specifically speaking like how the hitters reacted to it. Fastball had decent life on it and located it well, and the curveball got some big outs as well. So overall, pretty pleased.”
Verlander averaged 93.4 mph on his fastball, about 1 mph less than his average velocity last season, but he touched 95 mph in his final inning. Manager Joe Espada said he believes there is “more there in the tank (that) eventually will come.
But for him, it’s just, he can hit his spots and he’ll keep you off-balance. … It was a very strong performance.”
Verlander retired his first seven hitters on 23 pitches. Riley Adams’ double ended the streak. Ildemaro Vargas and Young followed with singles. Espada deemed what followed “the big play of that game.” Verlander wheeled on an inside pickoff move and saw Vargas breaking for third. Vargas was tagged in a rundown, and Verlander retired CJ Abrams on a pop-up to puncture a potential rally.
“Just a crafty old vet, trying to get an out anyway we can,” Verlander said.
Espada credited Verlander’s “instincts” and said the pickoff was not called from the dugout. He said the Astros had reminded their pitching staff about the Nationals’ aggressiveness on the bases. Washington entered Friday second in the majors in stolen bases, having converted 33of-38 attempts. Catcher Yainer Diaz also threw Vargas out trying to steal second in the eighth inning.
Verlander retired 10 of his final 11 hitters, starting with Abrams’ pop-out. Espada said pregame that 8085 pitches would be his limit. Verlander finished the sixth at 78 pitches, freezing Jesse Winker with a fastball for a called third strike on his last. Espada said he did not consider sending Verlander back in for the seventh as “we’re going to need him to give us more pitches later on in the season.”