Where Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander goes next is a big mystery. He is not certain if he will be on the Astros’ playoff roster; a thought that seemed unimaginable at the beginning of the year. Verlander is also not sure about which team’s uniform he will wear next year.
There is an outside chance Saturday’s 4-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field was the last time he pitched in an Astros uniform. This would close an outstanding run in Houston. Verlander won’t get emotional or look that far ahead, instead he is focusing on his good outing in Cleveland.
“It’s probably the best I felt since coming back [from a neck injury] so far,” Verlander said. “It’s nice to end on a strong note.”
Verlander, making his 526th career start (130th with Houston). He conceded a two-run homer in the first inning to Guardians’ slugger José Ramírez who included a sac fly in the third inning. Justin ended with six innings and three runs permitted, giving him a 5.48 ERA in 90 ⅓ innings pitched this campaign.
“I thought he threw the ball really, really well,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “He got to 97 [mph] against Ramírez, digging deep there in one at-bat. He made some good pitches. I thought he got those guys off balance. A lot of their singles were kind of soft and he made some really good pitches.
“I thought today he went out there with a purpose. It’s not like he hasn’t been going with a purpose, but I thought there was some intention there to show he can really deliver, and he did.”
Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt, who went 1-for-8 against Verlander in his 10-year playing career, thought he was at the top of his game. Justin improved to 24-24 in his career against the Guardians.
“That’s how he’s always been his whole career,” Vogt said. “He kind of settles in the first couple innings and then it just starts to ramp up. We got to him. Josey hit the homer. We were able to manufacture a run off of him. Just not much else outside of that.”
Houston has a powerful quartet of starting pitchers to lead them into the postseason. Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown and Yusei Kikuchi will possibly start, in some order. They are next week’s best-of-three Wild Card Series against either the Detroit Tigers or the Kansas City Royals. Then there is Ronel Blanco, who is second in the AL in ERA (2.80) and leads the league in opponents’ batting average (.190).
