Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Justin Verlander took the mound on Tuesday night for the Mets, looking to make a statement in his return to Houston.
The right-hander, who won the 2022 Cy Young and World Series with the Astros, got off to a solid start against his former team.
Verlander looked like he was building off his last start—a six-inning outing against the Yankees where he struck out six and allowed one earned run. However, the Astros and Framber Valdez had had different plans for their former teammate.
Verlander retired six in a row to start the night, recording three ground-outs and one strikeout.
Corey Julks recorded the first hit of the game—a double—off Verlander to start the third, and advanced to third base after Martín Maldonado singled. Jose Altuve followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Astros a 1-0 lead, but recorded the second out of the inning. Needing one last out to escape the inning, Alex Bregman hit a home run into the Crawford Boxes to increase Houston’s lead to 3-0.
When talking to SNY after the game, Verlander stated how frustrated he was after surrendering a 3-0 home run to Bregman:
“Bregman does his homework, … so that’s on me,” Verlander said after the game. “I should have known a little better.”
After the barrage in the third inning, Verlander settled in again. The 40-year-old pitched through the seventh inning, allowing one more run in the seventh inning and finishing his night with five strikeouts.
Meanwhile, the Mets’ offense was dominated by Framber Valdez for the majority of Tuesday night. The left-hander struck out nine Mets across eight innings, taking a perfect game into the sixth inning until Mark Canha singled to the opposite field.
Valdez eventually gave up two runs in the eighth inning, but he settled down and got Brandon Nimmo to pop up to end the frame with limited damage. The Dominican Republic product lowered his ERA to 2.27 after Tuesday’s outing, which is the second-best ERA in MLB. (Shane McClanahan leads with a 2.12 ERA.)
“It’s difficult to recognize spin-off” his pitches, Buck Showalter said after that game. That showed all night, with the Mets flailing at a ton of pitches in the dirt. On the night, Valdez induced 19 whiffs and a 42% whiff rate.
As for Verlander, Tuesday night was another mediocre start for the $43 million man. Verlander allowed eight hits and four runs against his former team, raising his ERA to 4.50 and his WHIP to 1.21. To say Verlander has been concerning would be an understatement. The future Hall of Famer led MLB with a 1.75 ERA, 0.829 WHIP, and 6 H/9 last season. He’s struggled to gain any level of consistency this season.
Tuesday Scaries
With their 4-2 loss against the Astros, the Mets’ record on Tuesday fell to 2-10. It is by far the worst record of any day for the Mets, with the second worst record being 5-8 on Sunday.
On Deck
Tylor Megill takes the mound in the series finale against the Houston Astros. Megill was excellent in his last start against the Cardinals, where he struck out seven across six innings. Cristian Javier opposes Megill for the Astros. The right-hander is having another great year for Houston, and has a 2.90 ERA and 76 strikeouts in 80 2/3 innings in 2023.
First pitch for Wednesday’s game is at 2:10 pm. The game will be available to watch on SNY, and can be listened to on WCBS 880.
