Justin Verlander, 40, of the New York Mets, who has been the subject of recent trade speculation, continued his solid pitching performance.
The right-hander started the game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in New York, New York, on Saturday (June 26) and pitched six innings of two-hit ball, striking out four and walking none.
After walking Giancarlo Stanton with 스포츠토토 two outs in the bottom of the first, Verlander struck out Anthony Rizzo to end the inning. In the second, he walked leadoff hitter DJ LeMahieu but induced a double play by Harrison Bader. Billy McKinney was hit by a pitch, but Anthony Volpi grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.
In the bottom of the third, Verlander gave up a single to Glavier Torres, but got Stanton to ground out to third base. In the top of the fourth, he gave up a leadoff single to LeMahieu, but struck out Vader and McKinney.
After giving up a leadoff single to Volpi in the fifth, Verlander got Kyle Higashioka and Jake Brewers to ground out to short to end the inning. Torres was stranded on a grounder to first base. In the bottom of the sixth, he gave up a walk to LeMahieu but got Vader to fly out to center field.
Verlander, who threw 98 pitches, was replaced by Brooks Reilly in the seventh inning after the Mets jumped out to a 7-0 lead. The Mets went on to win 9-2.
[Photo] Justin Verlander of the New York Mets. ⓒGettyimages (All rights reserved)
Verlander, who signed a two-year, $86 million contract with the Mets this offseason, is 5-5 with a 3.24 ERA in 15 games (89 innings). He used a fastball (52 pitches), slider (21 pitches), curveball (21 pitches) and changeup (4 pitches), with his fastball touching 95.5 miles per hour (153.7 km/h).
The Mets invested heavily in their offense last winter, including signing Verlander, but it hasn’t paid off this season. Despite tonight’s win, they remain in fourth place in the National League East with a 47-53 record. They are 18 games out of first place Atlanta and 6.5 games out of a wild card spot.
The team’s lackluster performance has led to trade speculation in recent days. San Francisco was even mentioned as a team with specific interest. The Mets have invested a lot of money in him, so it’s hard to imagine them giving up on the season, but if they don’t rebound by the trade deadline (August 2), it could be a practical option.
It will be interesting to see if Verlander, who has continued to pitch well at a young age, can finish the season with the Mets.