Verlander, a 40-year-old pitcher with a 154 mph speed, continues to perform well in the fall, unlike Kershaw.
He’s 40, and he’s not afraid to show it. Three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, 40, of the Houston Astros, continued his dominance in fall baseball.
In Game 1 of the best-of-seven American League Championship Series (ALCS) of the 2023 Major League Baseball postseason at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, USA, on Saturday (Nov. 16), he allowed two runs on six hits (one home run) and two walks while striking out five in 6⅔ innings against the Texas Rangers.
He was charged with the loss after receiving no run support, but pitched like an ace in Game 1. Now has a 1.42 ERA in two postseason games following his Game 1 win in the Division Series against the Minnesota Twins on Aug. 8 (six innings, four runs, three hits, one walk, six strikeouts).
Against a Texas team that has been red-hot this fall, winning five straight baseball games, Verlander bounced back. He gave up a leadoff single to Corey Seager in the first, but induced Mitch Garber to ground out to the pitcher to end the inning.
In the second, Evan Carter doubled to right and Jonah Heim singled up the middle to open the scoring. Josh Young singled and Leodi Taveras walked to load the bases, but Marcus Simeon induced a grounder to second base to end the threat.
In the third and fourth innings, they retired the side in order. His pitches had a lot of power, with three infield outs. In the fifth, 카지노사이트킴 a five-pitch slider to Taveras was hit into the middle of the plate, leading to a solo home run by Jung-Wol Woo.
After retiring the side in order again in the sixth, Verlander gave up a leadoff walk to Heim in the seventh but retired Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Young on consecutive pitches. He gave up a single to Taveras to put runners on first and second, but was greeted with an ovation from the Houston home crowd.
Reliever Hector Neris got Simeon to foul out to first base to end the game without further damage. Totaled 101 pitches, 64 strikes and 37 balls. He threw a mix of sliders (36), curves (16), and changeups (2) centered around a four-seam fastball (47) that topped out at 96 mph (154.5 km/h) and averaged 94.3 mph (151.8 km/h).
In his 37 postseason starts to date, Verlander’s ERA has been slightly lowered from 3.54 to 3.51. After a World Series disappointment with the Detroit Tigers, he was seen as a fall baller like Clayton Kershaw (LA Dodgers), but he changed that image with two World Series wins since moving to Houston in 2017.