The Yankees did simply sufficient Saturday afternoon to spoil longtime foe Justin Verlander’s first recreation again with Houston — and obtained an enormous enhance from their very own returning beginning pitcher.
Jake Bauers mashed a tie-breaking fifth-inning residence run in opposition to Verlander within the Yankees’ 3-1 win within the Bronx, whereas starter Nestor Cortes struck out eight Astros in his first outing in additional than two months.
Verlander, who pitched for Houston from 2017-22, left within the offseason for a two-year, $86.6 million contract with the Mets, who traded him again to the Astros final Tuesday amid their disappointing season.
The right-hander entered Saturday with a 1.49 ERA over his earlier seven begins and principally held the Yankees in verify, working round seven hits and two walks to permit two runs over seven innings.
“The at-bats have been better,” Yankees supervisor Aaron Boone mentioned afterward. “It’s not always results in a big number or a big score, but you want to feel like you’re putting together good at-bats, and I think the last three, four days, we’ve seen that.”
A second-inning sacrifice fly by 22-year-old rookie Anthony Volpe delivered the Yankees’ first run in opposition to the 40-year-old Verlander. The recreation was tied 1-1 when Bauers slugged his 410-foot solo shot over the precise subject wall.
“Haven’t had too much success off of him, and felt like I was seeing him pretty well today,” mentioned Bauers, who additionally lined a seventh-inning single off Verlander. “Worked a couple at-bats my first couple times up and bought myself a pitch to hit [for a home run].”
Making his first begin since May 30, Cortes regarded sharp in his return from a rotator cuff pressure. The left-hander solely allowed one hit — Jose Altuve’s two hundredth profession residence run — over 4 innings, throwing 64 pitches as he continues to construct up his arm power.
Continued success for Cortes would offer a serious carry to a Yankees rotation that’s endured struggles by Luis Severino and Carlos Rodon and that seemingly misplaced Domingo German for the season as he attends inpatient therapy for alcohol abuse. Cortes, a 2022 All-Star, pitched to a 5.16 ERA over his first 11 begins however mentioned Friday the harm seemingly affected his early-season command.
“I always thought that if I could be who I was last year, [that] this year we could be in a pretty good spot,” Cortes mentioned. “Obviously, we have a lot of big names in our rotation. Everybody’s grinding. Everybody’s trying to get through what they’re going through. … I think we’re trending the right way.”
Yankees relievers Ian Hamilton, Tommy Kahnle, Michael King and Clay Holmes mixed to throw 5 scoreless innings in opposition to the Astros, who solely managed two hits. Gleyber Torres concluded the scoring with an eighth-inning solo residence run for the Yankees, who entered Saturday 3.5 video games out of the final American League Wild Card spot.
Verlander made his ultimate begin for the Mets final Sunday, choosing up his 250th profession win. His return to the Astros being within the Bronx felt becoming, contemplating Verlander performed a central function in Houston eliminating the Yankees from the 2017, 2019 and 2022 postseasons.
Saturday marked Verlander’s third begin of the season in opposition to the Yankees, who solely scored one run in opposition to him over 12 innings with the Mets. Verlander is now 10-8 in opposition to the Yankees in 26 profession regular-season begins.
The Yankees gained Thursday’s collection opener over Houston, 4-3, earlier than dropping Friday evening’s recreation, 7-3. They’ll look to win the four-game set Sunday afternoon, with Rodon (1-4, 6.29 ERA) scheduled to pitch in opposition to the Astros’ Jose Urquidy (2-2, 5.20 ERA).
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Source: www.bostonherald.com