Expectations were high for Justin Verlander coming into 2023. After winning his third career Cy Young Award with the Astros in 2022, he struggled with consistency during the beginning of his tenure in Queens. The Mets do not have much time left to turn their season around and get back into the hunt for the final Wild Card spot, but Verlander’s performance on Wednesday was an encouraging sign that the Mets are throwing in the towel yet.

Verlander turned in one of his best outings of the season on Wednesday, going eight innings and allowing just one run on three hits and a walk while striking out seven batters. He came out and set the tone early, retiring the side in order in the first inning with two strikeouts while throwing 13 of 14 pitches for strikes.

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The White Sox had no answer for the Mets’ right-hander. Verlander retired the first nine batters he faced on Wednesday night, and after allowing a single to start the fourth inning, he retired the next 10 batters he faced.

Verlander’s shutout bid came to an end with an out in the seventh inning when Luis Robert Jr. snapped the streak of 10 straight batters retired with his 28th home run of the season. Verlander found himself in some unfortunate trouble after allowing a walk on a borderline 3-2 pitch and an infield single. The future Hall-of-Famer got out of the jam with his seventh strikeout of the night to strand the two runners.

With the four-run lead intact, Verlander went back out for the eighth inning and tossed his sixth 1-2-3 inning of the night to wrap up his brilliant outing.

After walking a season-high six batters in his last start against the Dodgers, Verlander did a terrific job of attacking the strike zone and mixing his pitches. He got through eight innings on 100 pitches and threw 76 of those pitches for strikes.

“He had all his pitches,” Buck Showalter said of Verlander following the game. “When he felt he could exploit something, he went with it.”

The outing continues a trend of strong starts for Verlander over the past month. Over his last seven starts, the veteran right-hander has pitched to a 2.25 ERA over 44 innings, allowing just 31 hits and 13 walks while striking out 37 hitters.

The Mets improved play in July has certainly been fueled by the improvements made by the pitching staff. Despite still being 18th in MLB in team ERA on the season, the Mets have a team ERA of just 3.23 in July, which trails only the Seattle Mariners. The improved pitching has led the Mets to a 9-4 record in July, the third-best record in all of baseball for the month.

The Mets are currently seven games out of the final Wild Card spot with just under two weeks remaining before the trade deadline. It is undoubtedly a deep hole to have to climb out of, and only time will tell if the Mets can make that up with a little more than two months left in the season. If the Mets expect to make it all the way back, Verlander and the rest of the Mets’ pitchers will need to continue to pitch like one of baseball’s best staffs.

“I think everybody knows when the trade deadline is,” Verlander said. “Nobody has given me any indication of what exactly we’re going to do. I think we just stick together here in the clubhouse and keep doing what we’ve been doing.”