Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Justin Verlander picked up his third loss of the year despite a strong performance on Friday night in Queens. Facing a star-studded Blue Jays lineup, Verlander held them to one run over six innings of work. He set his season high in both strikeouts (8) and pitches (117).

Although Verlander was excellent in his sixth start of the season, his first inning struggles continued. His former Houston Astros teammate George Springer took him deep to dead center field on the second pitch of the night. It was Springer’s 54th career leadoff home run, which ties Alfonso Soriano for 2nd most all-time. Only Rickey Henderson leads Springer with 81 career leadoff homers. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. smoked a line drive back up the middle in the 1st inning that connected with Verlander’s right hip. It ricocheted off of Verlander and bounced right to Pete Alonso to get the out. Verlander found another way to get hit in the top frame. Verlander now has a 7.50 ERA while allowing four home runs in the first inning across his six starts.

Friday night’s first inning struggle could have been partly due to the hour-and-a-half rain delay before the first pitch. After the first inning Verlander really settled into the game. He was able to spot his pitches well, especially his curveball, constantly dropping it into the strike zone. His ability to command the zone for most of the evening allowed him to mix in his breaking pitches to get swings and misses.

He ran into some trouble in the sixth inning. Bo Bichette hit a line drive back at Verlander, which again hit him in the right hip area. The training staff came out to the mound to talk to Verlander, but he was just fine and stayed in the game. With runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs, Verlander struck out Brandon Belt and Matt Chapman to put himself in a better position. After an infield single to load the bases with two outs, Verlander struck out Daulton Varsho with a slider on his 117th pitch of the night to escape the jam.

There’s no question about how important Verlander is to the Mets rotation. Despite the lack of run support, which was non-existent in this one, his performance Friday night could lead to more great outings. It has been an up-and-down year for the 40-year-old Verlander, but he has shown in glimpses he is still a force to be reckoned with on the mound. The Mets will need him and Max Scherzer to continue throwing gems like this one to have a legitimate chance at winning the National League East and into the postseason.