SEATTLE — There was no way Justin Verlander was going to come back from the Tommy John operation and be average. There was no way he would grind, sweat, and fight through the doubt and pain to return to the hill and be a shell of his former self.
Verlander is built differently, and even at 39 and with a Hall of Fame résumé, he still has something to prove. If there were any cynics who thought he wouldn’t be able to return to his peak form, just ask the Seattle Mariners.
“That’s about as dominant a performance as you’ll see, and for a man who’s been doing it in this league for a long, long time,” said Mariners manager Scott Servais.
As a matter of fact. In his second start after missing last season, Verlander flashed vintage dominance for the Astros by throwing eight scoreless innings while hitting eight batters in a 4-0 win over the Mariners at T-Mobile Field and allowed three hits.
“I wouldn’t have put in all that hard work if I didn’t think I could still serve at a high level,” said Verlander. “But that aside, it’s definitely gratifying to feel like you’re going out there after a tough loss [Friday] and to be able to pick us up and go deep into the game and do what I expect most of the time.”
Verlander won his first game since beating the Mariners on July 24, 2020 — the opening day of the COVID-shortened season. He injured his arm during that game and attempted a comeback before undergoing ulnar collateral ligament surgery in his right elbow two months later.
Friday’s win was the 227th of Verlander’s career during which he surpassed the 3,000-inning career barrier when he finished in the seventh inning. He is the 138th pitcher in AL/NL history to pitch 3,000 innings and, along with former teammate Zack Greinke, is the only active pitcher to reach that mark.
“I still believe with all my heart that innings matter in the long run,” he said. “They are important in a 162-game season. If you’re able to go out there and throw 200+ innings, even if they’re not the most stellar innings, that advantage to the bullpen is huge. Baseball lost that a bit. It’s one of those things that’s hard to value in an analytical world. If you can’t value it, just poop it. Those of us who have been at this for a while know that this is something important.”
Astros catcher Martín Maldonado said he knew Verlander was in for a big night from the first pitch he threw into the bullpen during warm-up, saying it makes his job “easy.” Verlander threw 87 pitches, 64 of them for strikes. That included 19 first-pitch strikes against the 27 batters he faced. He generated 17 swings and misses.
“His ability to throw his fastball anytime he wanted, ability to throw his curveball anytime, slider anytime,” Maldonado said, “it was like he never left.”
Verlander, who gave up a run in five innings in his first start of the season a week earlier, was at 73 pitches in seven innings Saturday. Once the Astros had a few runs in the eighth, their night was over. However, a fast inning on Houston’s offense allowed Verlander to stay warm on a cold night and come back for a 1-2-3 eighth.
“Once it turned out to be a fast inning, there really wasn’t much more talk,” he said.
Life on Verlander’s fastball, averaging 94.4 miles per hour, was only part of the story. He located his slider well, which he failed to do on his first start, and mixed well with left-handers in the turn. Simply put, the Mariners had no shot.
“I think it’s probably pretty obvious in the first two innings that he had his clothes on tonight,” said Mariners first baseman Ty France. “He’s been doing it for a long time and you just have to jump to the top. He had the upper hand over us tonight.”