Justin Verlander gritty in first World Series win; Astros one victory away
PHILADELPHIA — If Thursday night's World Series Game 5 was Justin Verlander's final outing with the Astros, then the team and its fan base will remember him for being gutsy, for battling through difficult at-bats, and, ultimately, for shoving.
At times, Verlander's start looked like a throwback. He navigated traffic on the basepaths the way only a 17-year major-league veteran could. Composed and unflappable, Verlander's best moments in the Astros' 3-2 win — the first World Series victory of his storied career — over the Phillies arrived when he was in trouble.
"I don’t think J.V. would’ve wanted it any other way," teammate Alex Bregman. said "Those big situations, having to make big pitch after big pitch, that’s Justin Verlander."
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Take, for instance, the immediate seconds after Kyle Schwarber took Verlander deep on just his second pitch of the night. Leading off the bottom of the first, Schwarber scorched Verlander's 93-mph high fastball to right field and quickly erased the lead that Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña had just given Houston in the top of the inning.
The momentum had decidedly shifted in the Phillies' favor as a swarm of fans waving red towels threatened to rupture everyone's eardrums. It wasn't looking good for Verlander as his World Series history knocked with white knuckles on his door. The solo shot he gave up to Schwarber also put Verlander in the record books as the pitcher with the most World Series home runs allowed (10) in MLB history.
Verlander responded to that instant adversity by retiring five of his next six batters. He worked with catcher Martin Maldonado, he made his pitches, and he stopped the Phillies from taking advantage of that momentum shift.
Not too long after, in the second inning, the Phillies again turned up the heat on Verlander by loading the bases with two outs. Even though, through the years, Verlander's fastball has been his nastiest pitch, the 39-year-old reunited with his slider to strike out Rhys Hoskins on five pitches and leave the bases loaded in the second. Again, he stifled the Phillies' source of propulsion.
"You have to rely on the hundreds of starts and the thousands of pitches I've thrown before and just say, 'OK, like, I've given up leadoff home runs before,'" Verlander said afterward. "Let me bear down. It's not going to be indicative of what's going to happen the rest of the game, by any means. Let's see what happens."
In the days and hours before this outing, there was widespread speculation of whether Verlander was the right guy to start Game 5. His World Series track record — a 6.07 ERA in eight career World Series starts, including this year's Game 1 — loomed large.
Less than a week ago, the Phillies got to Verlander in just their second turn through the order, rallying for six costly hits against the veteran and, eventually, mounting a five-run comeback.
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That comeback was paired with Astros manager Dusty Baker's questionable decision to leave Verlander in the game long enough for the Phillies to tie it at 5-5.
Now, flash forward to just a couple of hours before Verlander's Game 5 start, and Baker again indicated he would remain with his ace in tough situations.
"Everybody's wondering, is he on a short leash? No, he doesn't have a leash at all," Baker said pregame Thursday. "I mean, he's Justin Verlander. Nobody can get out of trouble better than him."
The time came again in the fifth inning of Game 5 for Verlander to prove that his wise skipper was right.
With the Astros leading the Phillies 2-1, Bryce Harper got into scoring position after ripping a double to right field. The tying run was a base hit away from scoring. No one would have faulted Baker for yanking Verlander from his start right there and then in favor of right-hander Hector Neris, who was up and warming in the Houston bullpen.
But no leash means no leash. True to his word, Baker didn't move an inch even as Nick Castellanos fouled off pitch after pitch against Verlander. Slider, fastball, slider, slider, fastball, slider, change-up, curveball, curveball, slider. Verlander, approaching 100 pitches in what was almost certainly his final outing of the year, emptied the tank against Castellanos. Finally, on the 10th pitch of the at-bat, Verlander got Castellanos to bite, inducing a flyout to left field for the final out of the fifth.
"Nick had, looking back at Game 1, he probably had the at-bat of that game," Verlander said of Castellanos. "Him going down and getting that slider and skipping it into left field was kind of the precipice of that big inning. Here, I find myself on the verge of a ball game again with him up, and I just really wanted to get him out."
Verlander, knowing immediately this one was going to stay in the park, watched as left fielder Yordan Alvarez secured Castellanos' fly ball in his glove. Verlander pumped his arm and shouted, "Let's go!" Then he briefly touched the rim of his cap and calmly walked back into the Astros dugout.
Eight rows behind Houston's dugout was Verlander's wife, Kate Upton, wearing a fuzzy orange jacket and an orange backpack, the only one in her section who was cheering as Verlander dodged bullet after bullet. While Verlander was the image of calm, Upton jumped and leaped in front of her seat, thoroughly enjoying what might have been Verlander's final start as an Astro.
"You got to get those guys early, those good pitchers," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. "He's one of 'em. So we didn't get it done."
He stranded seven men on base in his five-inning, six-strikeout, 94-pitch outing. Schwarber's homer in his first at-bat of the night was the only run he allowed Thursday to cap an incredible comeback season.
Verlander missed nearly all of the previous two seasons due to a torn elbow ligament, which required Tommy John surgery.
Verlander, at 39 years old, can enter free agency next week if he chooses to exercise his player option and explore the open market. There will absolutely be contending teams interested in locking up the arm that recorded the majors' best ERA (1.75) this season, which next month will almost certainly earn him his third career Cy Young award.
His Game 5 start against the Phillies only made Verlander even more attractive to franchises looking to add a future Hall of Famer who just debunked his World Series track record.
"I can say I got one," Verlander said of his first World Series win. "My boys, my teammates, my family, they gave me the rookie treatment after the game. They put me in the cart and rolled me in the shower and just dowsed me with all sorts of stuff, and it was one of the best feelings in my career."
Despite the nonstop criticism, speculation and doubt, Verlander showed up in one of the Astros' most important games of the year.
All eyes will be on what the brilliant pitcher decides to do next.
Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
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