BACK IN A GROOVE
Verlander looks like his old postseason self with six scoreless innings in Game 1 victory
In his final start of the regular season, Justin Verlander thought he’d discovered something in his mechanics that gave him a velocity boost. Turns out, that might not have been the case, but the 40-year-old with the secondmost postseason wins in big league history still found a way.
Verlander relied heavily on his breaking stuff and masterfully mixed his pitches near the end of his outing for his first scoreless playoff start in four years. The three-time Cy Young Award winner scattered four hits and three walks to shut out the Twins in six innings of a 6-4 Astros win in Game 1 of their American League
Division Series on Saturday at Minute Maid Park.
In a shutout win over Arizona last week, Verlander, whose last scoreless playoff outing was seven innings of one-hit ball against the Rays in Game 1 of the 2019 ALDS, saw the velocity on his four-seam fastball average 95.4 mph, an extra mile per hour above his season average. On Saturday, his fastball topped out at 95.8 but averaged right at 94 mph, just a tick down from his season mean.
The Twins were hitting that fastball early and taking offspeed pitches for balls, putting runners in scoring position in each of the first three innings. Of Verlander’s first 42 pitches, 23 of them were four-seam fastballs.
“Not so great in the first couple innings. I didn’t really like it,” said Verlander when asked about how the small mechanics tweak carried over from Arizona to the playoffs. “But still it wasn’t as bad as it looked. So I think, once things settled in a little bit, I still felt like it carried over pretty well.”
Even without the small velocity spike, Verlander eventually found the feel for his curveball and slider, which meant he had to rely on his fastball on just 17 of his remaining 51 pitches.
“I guess you just adapt and do whatever you can to be successful, I think,” Verlander said. “In my career, I’ve changed drastically multiple times. So, I think what feels really good is that, when you start off struggling and are able to make some adjustments and find it, and the third, fourth, and fifth (innings) obviously I was able to have some things click and make some better pitches and get some easier outs.”
After laboring through three innings and getting the help of a couple of double plays, Verlander went to work with his breaking stuff, at one point retiring seven straight batters and not allowing a hit in his final three frames. He got 11 swings on his slider, and eight of those were whiffs. He got only four whiffs on his 25 curveballs, but one of those was especially nasty. Edouard Julien faced Verlander with one out in the fifth and got a curveball on a 2-2 count. It was so effective, Julien let go of his bat midswing as his helmet toppled off his head.
“(Verlander) definitely found himself and found the mix that he’s looking for,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He’s a guy that, if he has something that he doesn’t like, he’ll go away from it, and he’ll go to what feels good on that day.”
That kind of adaptability is what has helped Verlander log 17 postseason wins, just two shy of Andy Pettitte’s mark, and a record 236 playoff strikeouts.
“He gave us all he had like he usually does, and he gave us quality,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “Even when he doesn’t have his great stuff, he still manages to get people out.”