Verlander ends skid, allows 1 hit in 8 innings
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Justin Verlander did Tuesday night at Angel Stadium what Dallas Keuchel failed to do Sunday in Oakland.
He played stopper, halting the Astros’ losing streak at four games.
In a 1-0 victory that lowered his new team’s magic number in the American League West to five, Verlander dominated the Los Angeles Angels for eight scoreless innings.
The 34-year-old righthander fired 96 mph fastballs through his final frame. He looked every bit like a Game 1 starter in an AL Division Series.
Verlander went the final seven innings of his second start for the Astros without allowing a hit. He gave up only one hit in the game, a double to Brandon Phillips, the first batter he faced in the first inning. He issued only one walk, to Mike Trout, the Angels superstar center fielder whom he later inadvertently hit on the elbow pad with a full-count fastball.
Through two starts with the Astros, Verlander has a 0.64 ERA in 14 innings. He lowered his season ERA to 3.58. Nine strikeouts Tuesday brought his two-start total to 17 against only two walks.
Verlander struck out seven of the final 11 Angels batters he faced to become the first Astros starter since Keuchel against the Angels on May 5 to complete eight innings. He threw 112 pitches, the second-highest total by an Astros pitcher this season behind Keuchel’s 117-pitch complete game at Cleveland on April 25.
Rather than let Verlander face Trout a fourth time, Astros manager A.J. Hinch called on closer Ken Giles to face the Nos. 9, 1 and 2 batters in the Angels’ order in the ninth.
Giles induced a line out to center field from pinch hitter Ben Revere and a bloop single to Phillips that the arm of right fielder George Springer and the savvy of shortstop Carlos Correa turned into an out at second base before he got Trout to ground out to third base to end the game.
Verlander’s counterpart, another hard-throwing righthander in the Angels’ Garrett Richards, nearly matched him zero for zero in his five innings.
Richards held the Astros to one run on four singles. Unfortunately for him, three of those singles came in the second inning. The last came off the bat of Yuli Gurriel to drive in Correa.