Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets’ starting pitching troubles have been well-documented to start the season. The Mets entered Wednesday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds with a 17-19 record, largely due to the rotation’s collective lackluster performance over the season’s first five and a half weeks. Needing something to turn their season around, Justin Verlander gave the Mets seven brilliant innings in a 2-1 win.

Verlander had a shaky first inning, allowing a run to score after a leadoff single by Jonathan India and a two-out RBI double by Jake Fraley. From the second inning on, Verlander was unhittable. He retired 18 of his last 19 batters to get through seven innings, with the only baserunner coming on a two-out walk in the fourth inning.

In typical Verlander fashion, he got better as the game went along. He retired the final 10 batters he faced, and four of his seven strikeouts came in his last five batters.

“I’m still kind of making mechanical adjustments, trying to find my timing and everything,” Verlander said following the win. “I made a few little minor tweaks during the game, especially there in the third inning that, all of a sudden, I felt right, and I just kind of went from there and kept that feel.”

The future Hall of Fame threw 79 pitches over five innings in his first start of the season. When he finished the sixth inning at 91 pitches on Wednesday, it was reasonable to think he would turn the game over to the bullpen for the final nine outs. But Verlander went back out for the seventh inning, and pitched another brilliant inning. He finished his night striking out Nick Senzel on three pitches, two 97 mph fastballs followed by a devastating curveball in the dirt.

Verlander final line was 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 7 K as he threw 104 pitches in his second start of the season.

With the starting pitching being unable to make it through five innings in any of the past three games, the Mets needed Verlander to give them length. The three-time Cy Young Award winner did just that.

“Your job as a starting pitcher when it’s your day and you know the bullpen is a little taxed is to go out and eat some innings,” Verlander said. “To be able to do that, it felt great and hopefully it can jumpstart our rotation.”

The win for Verlander was his first ever against the Reds, giving him victories against all 30 teams in MLB. He had only faced the Reds twice in his career, once in 2012 and once in 2019, but picked up a no-decision and a loss in the two starts. With the win, he joins Max Scherzer in the group of just 21 pitches to ever accomplish the feat.

When the Mets signed Verlander, this is exactly the kind of outing they hoped they would see from the right-hander. The injury to start the season was the last thing anybody wanted, but outings like this one give hope that he can help turn the season around.

“It’s good to get him to the seven inning mark and to 100,” Buck Showalter said. “That bodes well down the line.”