AROUND THE HORN „
Astros: Astros ace Justin Verlander will throw a side session Tuesday, and if that goes well he’ll make his season debut this weekend against the Nationals. Astros manager Joe Espada made the announcement Monday, but wouldn’t say which game of the series Verlander would start. The threegame set begins Friday night. “He’s in a good spot,” Espada said. “He feels good. He feels confident. He wants to contribute. He knows that we need him on the mound, we need his presence and right now and he’s right where he needs to be.” The three-time Cy Young Award winner opened the season on the injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder. He made two rehabilitation starts, the first for Triple-A Sugar Land on April 7 before Saturday’s start for Double-A Corpus Christi. Verlander spoke to reporters before Espada announced his plans for the 41-year-old, who deferred to the manager on questions regarding his return. But he did discuss his health. “Pitch count-wise, I think it’s pretty close and health-wise I bounced back all the ways I would like to have seen,” he said. “... Some of the things that have been difficult for me to do are becoming easier and easier. So I feel like I’ve kind of checked all the boxes that need to be checked.”
Yankees: Radio broadcaster John Sterling announced his immediate retirement at age 85, a few weeks into his 34th season in the Yankees’ broadcast booth. Sterling had cut back his schedule in recent years and wasn’t with the team for its trip to Houston and Toronto. He called 5,420 regular-season games, the last against the Blue Jays on April 7, plus 211 postseason games. Sterling broadcast 5,060 consecutive games from September 1989 through July 2019 after starting with the Yankees as a pregame host. Sterling will be honored in a pregame ceremony before Saturday’s game against the Rays. “I have been able to do what I wanted, broadcasting for 64 years,” Sterling said in a statement. “As a little boy growing up in New York as a Yankees fan, I was able to broadcast the Yankees for 36 years. It’s all to my benefit, and I leave very, very happy. I look forward to seeing everyone again on Saturday.”
Extra innings: The Marlins have placed INF Jake Burger on the 10-day IL because of a left intercostal muscle strain. Burger leads the Marlins in RBIs with 15 and is tied for the team lead in HRs with three . ... Ken Holtzman, who tossed two no-hitters for the Cubs and won four World Series, died Sunday at 78. Holtzman had been hospitalized for three weeks while battling heart issues. He was 174-150 with a 3.49 ERA and 1,601 strikeouts in 451 games (410 starts) over 15 seasons with four teams in the 1960s and 1970s. Holtzman won three straight World Series championships with the A’s (197274) and another with the Yankees in 1977. He was 6-4 with a 2.30 ERA in 13 postseason games (12 starts), including a 4-1 record in the World Series.