MLB: Verlander pitchs first shutdown since 2015

Justin Verlander led the Houston Astros (28-17) to a 2-0 away win over the Los Angeles Angels (25-18) in the top match of the American League West. Verlander pitched his first shutdown in several years.

In total Verlander only allowed five hits during his first shutdown in the MLB since 2015 – even then the Angels were his victim. He did a walk and seven strikeouts. The seventh against Shohei Ohtani (0-4, 3 K) in the ninth inning was also the 2500th strikeout in the right-hander’s career.

Verlander is the 33rd pitcher in the history of the MLB who has collected at least 2500 Ks and the second active – CC Sabathia of the Yankees currently stands at 2874 and is also the first pitcher to reach this plateau since A.J. Burnett in 2015.

Only in the ninth inning did Verlander encounter slight problems: After two outs, Albert Pujols created a single and Andrelton Simmons worked his way up a walk. After a short talk on the mound, Astros manager A.J. Hinch decided to leave his Ace in and Verlander thanked him with a popup by Zack Cozart for the final out.

Verlander improved his balance to 5-2 and lowered his ERA to 1.05, by far the best value in the MLB.

All results of the night you will find in our new MLB Scoreboard.

This article was published without previous view by the Major League Baseball.