How Astros' Justin Verlander stacks up to this legendary Houston pitcher
TALE OF THE TAPE
26 July 2022
TALE OF THE TAPE
This week on Flippin Bats, Ben Verlander reacts to his brother Justin's incredible performance against the Mariners on Saturday, and does a deep dive into the stats to compare JV's career against Astros legend, Nolan Ryan.
For the sake of this comparison, we'll only look at Nolan Ryan's career through age 39. Basically making things even from an age standpoint. Be sure to check out Ben's thorough breakdown, as JV fairs very well against his idol. In fact, Ben even slightly gives the edge to Justin.
Here are a few stats he mentions:
Wins
Nolan Ryan 253
Justin Verlander 239
ERA
Nolan Ryan 3.15
Justin Verlander 3.27
WHIP
Justin Verlander 1.13
Nolan Ryan 1.28
WAR
Justin Verlander 75.6
Nolan Ryan 61.1
Don't miss the full breakdown above in the video!
Christian Walker homered twice, capped by a tiebreaking solo shot in the eighth inning to lift the Houston Astros to a 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday.
ANOTHA ONE. pic.twitter.com/ZSotUshBrA
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 28, 2025
The game was tied 3-3 with no outs when Walker sent the first pitch from Luis Peralta (1-2) into left center field. Walker also homered in the first inning to make this the 15th multi-homer game of his career.
Oppo for Walker! #BuiltForThis pic.twitter.com/ZUt9Q1Qcco
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 28, 2025
Jose Altuve also homered for the Astros, who won a second straight after dropping the series opener.
GOATuve. pic.twitter.com/CMeDnExsOj
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 28, 2025
The Rockies had a chance to take the lead when they loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh. Jordan Beck reached on a catcher’s interference call on César Salazar, but Kaleb Ort struck out Brenton Doyle to leave everyone stranded.
Bryan King (4-3) threw a scoreless eighth for the win and Bryan Abreu allowed one hit in a scoreless ninth for his fourth save.
Altuve and Walker hit back-to-back homers with two outs in the first inning to put Houston up 2-0. Mauricio Dubón scored on a bunt single by Salazar to push the lead to 3-0.
The Rockies loaded the bases with one out in the third and made it 3-1 when Mickey Moniak grounded into a force out that sent a run home.
Ezequiel Tovar homered into the seats in right field with two outs in the fourth.
Yanquiel Fernández tied it when he belted his second homer this season to right field in the fifth.
Walker’s second home run.
MLB.com's Brian McTaggart caught up with Walker after the big win.
A clean-shaven Christian Walker led the Astros to a razor-thin win over the Rockies pic.twitter.com/wvE1n6hXMv
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) August 28, 2025
The Rockies left 10 men on base.
Colorado RHP Germán Márquez (3-11, 5.67 ERA) is expected to come off the injured list Friday to oppose RHP Cade Horton (8-4, 2.88) in the opener of a three-game series against the Cubs.
Houston RHP Cristian Javier (1-1, 5.40) opposes LHP Tyler Anderson (2-8, 4.73) when the Astros open a four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels Friday night.