YANKEES DEFEAT ASTROS
Verdugo powers Yankees to 10-3 blowout against Verlander and Astros
May 8, 2024, 7:40 am
Yankees hammer Verlander. Composite Getty Image.
Alex Verdugo homered and tied a career high with four RBIs, powering the New York Yankees past Justin Verlander and the skidding Houston Astros 10-3 on Tuesday night.
Anthony Volpe and Giancarlo Stanton also went deep off Verlander as the Yankees won their fourth straight. They've totaled 20 runs in the last three games after scoring just eight in a five-game span that ended Saturday.
Volpe finished with three RBIs and Juan Soto had three hits.
“Obviously, you’re not going to run out offensive nights like this every night, especially against a guy like Justin,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “But they are capable of that. They’ve got balance.”
Verdugo, batting cleanup between Aaron Judge and Stanton, accounted for New York’s first four runs with a three-run homer in the first and an RBI single in the third against Verlander (1-1).
“Sometimes it’s a little bit humbling when you’ve got Judge up there looking down at me and then you’ve got Stanton back right behind me,” a grinning Verdugo said. “I’m like the small guy in the group. But honestly, man, I love it. I really do. I feel like I add enough contact in there that I can either move over some guys (or) get the job done.”
The four-RBI game was the second of the season for Verdugo and fifth of his career. He also made a nice sliding catch in left field of a sinking liner by Jeremy Peña to end the sixth.
“We’re seeing the kind of player he is (on) both sides of the ball,” Boone said. “He’s been excellent. He’s been clutch.”
Verlander lasted five innings and gave up seven runs — the second-most he’s allowed in 37 regular-season and postseason starts versus the Yankees. He yielded eight runs in Detroit’s 13-9 loss on Sept. 1, 2008.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner permitted eight hits and walked three Tuesday night. The 41-year-old Verlander, who missed the first three weeks of the season recovering from right shoulder inflammation, has allowed 27 baserunners (17 hits, 10 walks) over 16 1/3 innings in his last three starts.
“If I’m being brutally honest with myself, the last couple games, probably in particularly, the walks showed me I was a little off,” Verlander said. “And sometimes it takes you facing a team that knows you intimately, and vice versa, to send you back to the drawing board. I think these guys showed me today that I’ve got some work to do.”
Volpe hit a two-run homer in the fourth. Stanton led off the fifth with a 421-foot drive to left field that was clocked at 118.8 mph off the bat. Judge and Jon Berti also had run-scoring singles for the Yankees.
Luis Gil (3-1) allowed just one hit — Kyle Tucker’s first-inning homer — and walked four with five strikeouts over six innings.
“Definitely was a point in the game where I told myself I’ve got to keep this game right here,” Gil said through a translator.
Trey Cabbage had a two-run single in the ninth for the Astros, who matched a season low with three hits. Houston has lost three straight to fall to 12-23 — tied for the fifth-worst record through 35 games in franchise history.
“Pleased about our walks. We walked six times, something that we’ve been trying to get better at — be more selective,” manager Joe Espada said. “We just couldn’t get that much offensively.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros: DH Yordan Alvarez crumpled to the ground in pain after fouling a ball off his left leg in the third. He was lifted for a pinch hitter in the eighth. ... RHP Cristian Javier (neck), who threw 3 1/3 innings Saturday in a rehab start for Double-A Corpus Christi, will return to the Houston rotation this weekend. … RHP Jose Urquidy (right forearm) threw to hitters and is expected to begin a rehab assignment soon.
Yankees: RHP Gerrit Cole (right elbow) threw in the bullpen for the second time since he was injured in mid-March. … INF Oswald Peraza (right shoulder) began a rehab assignment by going 2 for 3 with a home run for Class A Tampa. Boone said Peraza, yet to play this season, will need a spring training-like ramp up of minor league games before returning to the Yankees. … RHP Nick Burdi (right hip) struck out all three batters he faced in his first rehab appearance for Triple-A Scranton. … INF DJ LeMahieu (right foot) is feeling better and participating in baseball activities. Boone said LeMahieu will travel with the team for this weekend’s series against Tampa Bay and could get at-bats at the Yankees’ minor league complex in Florida.
UP NEXT
The three-game series continues Wednesday night, when Yankees LHP Carlos Rodón (2-2, 3.68 ERA) is scheduled to face RHP Spencer Arrighetti (0-3, 8.27).
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A.J. Hinch led Houston to a championship in 2017, and the last time he managed a postseason game it was the Astros’ loss in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series.
The following January he was suspended for a year by Major League Baseball and fired the same day for his role in Houston’s sign-stealing scandal.
Hinch returns to the playoffs Tuesday with the Detroit Tigers in their first postseason appearance in a decade when they face the AL West champion Astros in Game 1 of a best-of-three Wild Card Series. Detroit ace Tarik Skubal (18-4, 2.39 ERA) opposes fellow left-hander Framber Valdez (15-7, 2.91) in the opener.
Hinch, who has managed the Tigers since 2021, insists this series is not about his redemption.
“I’m not proud of the story to get here,” Hinch said Monday before the Tigers worked out at Minute Maid Park. “I’ve owned up to that and I will continue to do that. I’m very sorry for how it all went down. But all I had was the next opportunity to try to make it better and try to do my part to make this happen as fast as possible for the Detroit Tigers.”
“And that group that’s in the clubhouse over there waiting to go work out has worked tirelessly to get to feel this feeling,” he continued.
The Tigers were 10 games out of the last AL wild-card spot on Aug. 10 before going 31-13 the rest of the way to punch their ticket to the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
Now, they’ll face a playoff-tested Houston team that's in the postseason for an eighth straight year. Detroit outfielder Riley Greene believes the Tigers' path to this point will help them this week.
“I feel like we’ve been playing playoff baseball since August,” he said. “We’re young and all we really want to do is win and we’re doing whatever we can to win.”
The Astros also had a difficult path to the playoffs this season. Houston overcame a 7-19 start to win its fourth straight AL West title and its seventh in eight years, only falling short during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Hinch and Astros manager Joe Espada share a close bond after Hinch hired Espada as his bench coach in Houston before the 2018 season. Espada is in his first season as manager after Dusty Baker’s retirement.
“I’m actually looking forward to it,” Espada said. “He’s a good friend. We have spent a lot of time together. I’ve learned a ton from A.J., but I think this series is about the Astros against the Tigers.”
Valdez’s Mental Growth
Valdez is looking for a much better postseason this year after he lost each of his three playoff starts last season while giving up a combined 19 hits and 12 earned runs.
The 30-year-old has worked on improving his mental toughness over the past few years with the help of Dr. Andy Nunez, a psychologist in the Astros organization.
“With Dr. Andy, I’ve talked to him almost every day, whether it’s on the phone, whether before a game, after a game, even if I’m not playing, I try to take the moment and talk to him,” Valdez said in Spanish through a translator. “We talk about life, try to talk about the mental aspect of it, how to handle certain situations … (and) I try to take that advice and make the most of it.”
Espada has been impressed with the growth of Valdez since his rookie season in 2018.
“I’ve seen this young kid that got up here in the big leagues a long time ago really mature both personally and on the mound,” Espada said.
Skubal’s Crown
Skubal, who had 228 strikeouts to go with his 18 wins and 2.39 ERA, became the first American Leaguer to win the pitching Triple Crown since Cleveland’s Shane Bieber did it in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and the first in a full season since Justin Verlander in 2011.
The likely AL Cy Young Award winner is looking forward to his playoff debut.
“It means a lot to have the confidence from A.J. and the organization, and I’m going to roll out there (Tuesday) and do my best to put our team in position to win,” he said.
The 27-year-old Skubal has faced Houston twice this season with a win and a loss. But both starts were early in the season, with the last one coming on June 14.
After the Tigers use their ace in Game 1, don’t expect to see any Detroit pitcher for more than two or three innings for the rest of the series.
“Our plan, to give you a brief overview, is Tarik Skubal (on Tuesday) and pitching chaos the rest of the way, which is kind of how it’s been the last two months,” Hinch said.
Availability of Alvarez
The Astros are waiting to see if outfielder/designated hitter Yordan Alvarez can play this week. He’s been out since spraining his right knee on a slide Sept. 22.
Espada said Monday that Alvarez would hit in the cage and run on the field and the team would determine his availability after that.
Alvarez led the Astros with a .305 batting average, 35 homers and 86 RBIs this season.