Barring a significant improvement in his final regular season start or another unforeseen development, it is certainly possible that we just watched Justin Verlander’s last start as an Astro at Minute Maid Park. Even a spot on the postseason roster remains uncertain, if not unlikely, especially after his disappointing performance against the Angels. Six runs in 4 2⁄3 innings on the heels of multiple suboptimal starts in recent weeks isn’t exactly a confidence builder for either pitcher or team.
We’ve all known for a while that Verlander’s skills have eroded. That isn’t an earth-shattering development. We can’t deny the fact that Verlander is no longer the pitcher who could routinely dominate lineups. His four-seam velocity, for example, has trended downward this season and that development hasn’t abated in his recent starts.
Against the Angels, we watched a pitcher average around 93.5 mph on his fastball, topping out at 95.8 mph at pitch number 63. Verlander threw 23 more pitches after that one and didn’t top 94.7 mph. 40 swings overall and only eight whiffs. 19 of those swings occurred against his four-seam and only three whiffs. In the postseason with better lineups, it isn’t a trend that you would like to see. It has become a recurring issue across most of his pitches, unfortunately, in 2024.
Unless something noticeably changes in his last start of the season, it appears that the Astros will have a difficult conversation with the future Hall of Fame pitcher soon. To his credit, Verlander recognizes the predicament.
Justin Verlander: “Listen, I think I came back from the neck injury a little fast. Obviously I know the schedule, know the calendar. I want to be an asset for this team. To do that, I need to be able to pitch and find out where I’m at. Obviously the results have not been good”
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) September 21, 2024
I’d be curious, if there was more time, to see if Verlander’s velocity could recover the further he’s removed from his neck injury. But as he stated in his postgame comments, the current product hasn’t been a quality one. There simply isn’t much time left to see if he could rebound, at least this season.
While Verlander had his issues, the lineup picked a good night to have a game. Well, almost everyone. Kyle Tucker had four hits, including a home run. I am also thankful for his shin guard for doing its job. Alex Bregman broke the game open with a two-run home run in the third inning. Yainer Díaz had three hits while Mauricio Dubón had his best game at the plate in a while, collecting two. In a game in which Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez were hitless, it was a positive sign to see the other bats show some life. Nine runs in total.
Big offensive night from both teams, but the #Astros win 9-7 and the magic number to clinch the division is down to 4 pic.twitter.com/nqhCa7h03G
— Space City Home Network (@SpaceCityHN) September 21, 2024
But the Angels were persistent at the plate, scoring seven themselves. Again, they did score six runs off of Verlander. Héctor Neris caused a bit of heartburn when he gave up a solo home run to Kevin Pillar in the seventh. Thankfully, Ryan Pressly and Josh Hader shut it down in the last two innings, with the duo combining for two scoreless innings and four strikeouts.
Thanks to the Mariners’ win against the Rangers, the Astros’ lead over the former for the AL West remains five games. But with only eight games left, Houston remains in the driver’s seat, at least for now. Depending on the outcome of this series against the Angels, the last series of the season against Seattle early next week possibly looms large.