Verlander looks to deliver clincher
George Springer shook his head at the mere mention of Houston Astros teammate Justin Verlander’s past October trouble, the only pitcher in baseball history to go 0-5 in the World Series.
“We wouldn’t be here without him,” Springer declared. “I don’t care what individual stats say.”
Verlander will get a chance to make people forget his postseason struggles, including losses in win-and-advance games in this year’s AL division series and Championship Series, if he can help Houston clinch a second championship in three years. The 36-year-old right-hander will start Game 6 at home against Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals on
Tuesday night.
“He’s prepared. He’s ready for this moment. We’ve been communicating back and forth throughout the whole series on how we were going to make an adjustment to what we were seeing and how we were going to attack,” said Gerrit Cole, Verlander’s rotation-mate and chief AL Cy Young Award competition this season.
“It’s going to be business as usual for him. He’s going to set the tone for us.”
Cole gave up just one run in seven innings and struck out nine as the Astros grabbed a 3-2 series lead Sunday night by beating the NL wild-card Nationals 7-1.
Springer, Carlos Correa and rookie Yordan Álvarez all delivered two-run homers — celebrated with elaborate handshakes and hearty hugs — for the team that led the majors with 107 wins in the regular season.
The hootin’ and hollerin’ carried on in the mini-cafeteria in the visiting clubhouse at Nationals Park.
It’s really been rousing to be on the road so far: Only two other times in baseball history did the home team fail to win any of the first five games of a World Series.
If Verlander can’t close it out, and there is a Game 7 on Wednesday, the Nationals will hope they can send out threetime Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, who was scratched just hours before Game 5 because of a neck problem that left him unable to lift his throwing arm.
Verlander has not been pitching up to the high standards he established while winning 225 games, collecting 2011 AL Cy Young and MVP honors and earning eight All-Star selections.
After going 21-6 with a 2.58 ERA and 300 Ks during the regular season, this is what he’s done in five postseason starts in 2019: 1-3, 4.15 ERA, 35 strikeouts, 11 walks. That includes a 12-3 loss in Game 2, also while facing Strasburg.
Five days later, Verlander gets another shot at the Nationals.
“We’ve got J.V. on the mound. A J.V. day is fun. I’ve been watching that guy pitch for a lot of years,” Astros reliever Joe Smith said. “He ain’t slowing down.” Maybe so.
“We’ve got Justin Verlander on the mound, and that brings a lot of confidence to our clubhouse,” Astros manager AJ Hinch said. “Their guy’s pretty good, too.”