Verlander again fails to get 200th win
Three hits not enough to thwart long home skid, aid Verlander
It was supposed to be a night when Justin Verlander earned the 200th win of his Hall-of-Fame-caliber career. Instead, the Astros reached a woeful milestone by losing 5-1 to the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday. The Astros set a record with their ninth consecutive defeat at Minute Maid Park. It is the franchise’s longest streak of home losses since 1966, when they played in the Astrodome.
It was not enough for Verlander
to be his usual self. To have a shot at his historic win, he needed to keep the Rockies scoreless because his offense was limited to three hits in the game.
The home crowd rejoiced when the Astros broke through with their first hit and one run in the fifth inning. That produced a 1-0 lead for Verlander, who had stranded runners, preventing consecutive batters from reaching base and striking out 10 or more batters for the eighth time this season.
But Verlander could not convert the final out of the sixth inning with a victory in the offing.
Three hits in a row, including Nolan Arenado’s go-ahead tworun homer, ruined Verlander’s night, chased him from the game and sparked Colorado’s win that reduced the Astros’ lead in the American League West to one game.
In Major League Baseball’s current era, when relievers increasingly throw harder and enter games earlier, wins are more elusive than ever for starters. Verlander (11-8, 2.52 ERA) has recorded two of them in his last 11 starts. He failed to reach the 200-win milestone for a second consecutive try.
Verlander finished six innings with 11 strikeouts, two hits and two earned runs.
“I know the feeling and the vibe whenever one bad thing happens, like a two-out base hit, and, all of a sudden, there’s some anxiety and some tension around our team right now,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “That’s because of the psyche of what you bring into today’s game.”
The mounting losses correlate with the injuries to All-Stars Jose Altuve and George Springer. Their absences continue to deplete the team’s capabilities on offense. Carlos Correa went 0-for-4, extending a 1-for-15 skid since his return from a sore back.
The Astros scored when Yuli Gurriel tripled and Josh Reddick immediately followed with an
RBI-single to right.
“The way that the offense has been lately that felt like a breakout,” Hinch said. “But they answered back with a really bizarre homer.”
For his 30th home run of the season, Arenado seemed the flick Verlander’s high-and-away 96.6 mph fastball off the end of his bat.
“Kind of an ‘excuse me’ swing,” Verlander said. “But that’s kind of the way things are going right now.”
Added Hinch: “I don’t think anyone thought it was a homer, including Nolan.”
“I usually don’t go (opposite field) very good,” said Arenado, who looked puzzled after driving the ball to right field. “I kind of
lost it in the lights. Then, when I heard the crowd go ‘ahh,’ that’s when I knew it was still going.”
“You look up, and it’s 10 rows deep,” Hinch said. “That was frustrating for our team. We just couldn’t answer that punch.”
The bottom of the Astros’ order squandered fruitful opportunities with runners in scoring position. Kyle Tucker and Martin Maldonado stranded Reddick at third base in the fifth inning. Later in the game, three batters could not advance Tyler White after his leadoff walk.
The Astros mounted their largest threat in the seventh inning against hard-throwing starter German Marquez, who had bombarded them with high heat and
befuddled them with sliders. Marwin Gonzalez led off with a double and Reddick reached first on catcher’s interference.
For the first time in the game, Marquez, looked like he would unravel. The one-out jam prompted Rockies manager Bud Black to hold a mound meeting.
Marquez needed only two more pitches to preserve a 2-1 lead. Evan Gattis flew out to center, Tucker grounded out to the pitcher and Marquez — with a strikeout to match each inning he completed — pumped his arms on a walk back to the dugout.
The Astros’ bullpen could not keep the game close. Collin McHugh mustered only one out and allowed a run. Brad Peacock served up Trevor Story’s 25th home run. Will Harris allowed a leadoff triple to pinch hitter Ian Desmond, who scored on Charlie Blackmon’s single.
The Rockies totaled 12 hits. While the Athletics and Mariners, the West’s second- and third-place teams, continued their clash in Oakland, a sense of anxiety lingered at Minute Maid.
“You try to get these guys to rewind back to five or six days, when we were coming off a successful road trip and we felt pretty good,” Hinch said of his slumping team. “It’s amazing what baseball can do to you, if you allow it.
“We have a choice, whether to carry this garbage into tomorrow’s game or do we wipe the slate clean? Our guys are resilient. We’ll show up ready to play.”
Most of his teammates can get a fresh start in Wednesday’s finale
against the Rockies, but Verlander must wait again for his third chance to put win No. 200 behind him. Another turn in the rotation feels longer during a summer drag like this.
“When it rains, it pours,” Verlander said. “That’s what it seems like right now.”