Home run bug again bites Verlander
Verlander taints historic climb by allowing 3 of L.A.’s 4 homers
Justin Verlander allowed seven hits over seven innings Friday night, hardly an awful outing for the Astros ace. The issue came in where three of the Los Angeles Angels’ swings against him wound up — beyond the outfield fence at Minute Maid Park.
“I have to do a better job of keeping the ball in the yard,” Verlander said. “It’s been a common theme, all year really, but really the last four or five starts.”
Verlander allowed three home runs in the Angels’ 5-4 victory before 41,219, the Astros’ sixth sellout of the season. In an otherwise solid season, Verlander (10-4) has given up a Major League Baseball-leading 26 homers.
“I’ve got to figure out a way to combat this thing,” Verlander said.
Verlander will have the All-Star Game and break to ponder his approach, as one of six Astros headed to Cleveland for Tuesday’s midseason shindig.
“Four of their nine hits were home runs — we just couldn’t keep them in the ballpark,” said Astros manager A.J. Hinch, after reliever Hector Rondon also allowed a solo blast to Mike Trout.
“(Verlander) was all over the strike zone, and he commanded the ball pretty well. … It was an unfortunate night. He’s a fly ball pitcher and he lives at the top of the (strike) zone.
“They did a good job of beating him to the spot a couple of times above the zone.”
Hinch has made a point to his players to finish the first half of the season strong. The Astros (5533) saw their five-game win streak snapped following sweeps of Seattle and Colorado.
“We haven’t been a very good team (in years past) in the last weekend before the break,” said Hinch, whose streaky squad also lost seven consecutive games in mid-June. “I remember getting (swept) by Tampa (in 2015) and I remember not finishing the first half of the season strong in a few of these years. I let our team know that.
“The goal is to win this series and get to the break, and then come on strong for the last couple of months. I don’t think we need any more motivation than that.”
The Angels (45-44) nurtured a three-run lead before Yuli Gurriel added some intrigue with a tworun homer inside the right-field foul pole in the eighth.
Gurriel scored Michael Brantley, who had reached base for the fourth time on the night. The firstyear Astro had four of the team’s six hits.
“I was just getting some good pitches and putting some good swings on them,” Brantley said.
Brantley, voted an All-Star game starter, began the scoring by yanking a solo home run to right field to lead off the second. The Angels countered in the third with a two-run homer by Kole Calhoun into the bullpen in rightcenter field.
Following a fly out by Trout, Shohei Ohtani blasted a home run just to the left of the 409-foot sign in straightaway center field for a 3-1 Angels lead.
The Astros added a run in the fourth on a fielder’s choice groundout, and the Angels regained their two-run lead with a solo homer by Andrelton Simmons in the sixth.
The Astros blew a chance to get back in the game in the sixth, when Alex Bregman led off with a walk and reached third on Brantley’s ground-rule double. But Yordan Alvarez struck out, Gurriel popped out to second base and Robinson Chirinos grounded out to third. Along the way, Verlander slipped past Jim Bunning for 18th in MLB history for strikeouts with 2,859. Verlander needed three to move past the Hall of Famer and wound up with six.
Hinch pulled Verlander after seven innings and 102 pitches, and Rondon promptly allowed the no-doubter by Trout above the Crawford Boxes in left for a 5-2 Angels lead in the eighth.
The teams are playing their second series this season, but first in the United States. The Astros outscored the Angels 24-6 in the Mexico Series in Monterrey in early May. Verlander won the second game 10-4 after the Astros prevailed 14-2 in the opener.
The Angels also were playing their second series following the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs on Monday. That night’s game against the Texas Rangers in Arlington was postponed.The Angels wound up winning two of three against Texas. The Astros held a moment of silence prior to Friday’s game for Skaggs, 27, whose cause of death has not been determined.
Fans won’t be able to catch the Astros at Minute Maid for a while after this weekend. Following the Angels series and All-Star festivities, the Astros play four games at Texas and four road games against the Angels before returning home to face the Rangers on July 19.