It’s easy to look good against a club that had suffered 92 defeats before yesterday’s meeting, but think again, because in the big leagues all teams have a chance of winning.
Except that yesterday, the chances of the Oakland Athletics were diminished, because they faced the Astros in Houston and their veteran pitcher Justin Verlander. The 39-year-old right-hander was back on the mound after 18 days of absence and he wanted at all costs to pick up where he left off before his injury.
Astros fans saw Verlander once again, who shut out the A’s for five innings while striking out nine batters. In fact, the leader in the hunt for the Cy Young Trophy in the American did not hit the batters for the Athletics on his return.
The Astros won 5-0 to secure a playoff berth for the sixth straight season.
Yordan Alvarez took the offense in hand, hitting the ball over the fence in his first three at bats. Alvarez finished the night with four hits in as many at-bats, while driving in three runs and crossing home plate three times. A’s starter Adrián Martínez was Alvarez’s triple victim.
The poor A’s returned to the locker room having hit only three hits while biting the dust 16 times.
Verlander is 17-3 this season (an all-American high) and leads the Majors with a 1.78 ERA.
He is a logical candidate to earn the ultimate recognition for a pitcher for the third time in his career. Dylan Cease (White Sox), Shane McClanahan (Rays), Framber Valdez (Astros) and Alek Manoah (Blue Jays) also have chances to get their hands on the precious trophy in 2022.
It’s getting late for Verlander to reach 20 wins this season, but that shouldn’t hurt his chances of seeing his efforts rewarded.
