Last-minute deal sends Verlander to Houston

HOUSTON—When Houston manager A.J. Hinch called to welcome Justin Verlander to the team, the pitcher's first question was when he'd make his debut for the Astros.

The answer is Tuesday at Seattle after the Astros orchestrated a last-minute deal with the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night to acquire the right-hander and bolster their rotation as they eye a deep playoff run in October.

General manager Jeff Luhnow said they'd been trying to get Verlander to Houston since late July, but weren't able to pull it off until just before the deadline for having players eligible for postseason play.

"I was confident that we were going to get the deal over the finish line," Luhnow said. "But obviously there were times I had my doubts even through the last 20 minutes or so."

The trade gives the American League West leaders a powerful 1-2-3 punch at the top of their rotation with 2015 Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers pairing with Verlander, who won the AL Cy Young and MVP awards in 2011.

"Justin Verlander is hands-down the best possible outcome that we could have had last night going into September," manager A. J. Hinch said. "By the responses of our team we couldn't be more excited to get him here, get him into our culture and see where he can help take us."

The six-time All Star is a playoff veteran having appeared in the postseason five times. He is 7-5 with a 3.39 ERA and 112 strikeouts in 16 career starts in the playoffs.