Now it’s a stranger. Less than a year after solidifying their will to win the World Series together, they faced each other as starters.
Justin Verlander (40, Houston Astros) and Max Scherzer (39, Texas Rangers) each started as starters in the ‘2023 Major League’ match between Houston and Texas held at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, USA on the 7th (Korean time).
On this day, the visiting team Houston consisted of Jose Altuve (second baseman), Jeremy Peña (shortstop), Jordan Alvarez (designated hitter), Alex Bregman (third baseman), Kyle Tucker (right fielder), Jose Abreu (first baseman), and Michael Brantley ( The starting lineup consisted of left fielder) – Mauricio Dubon (center fielder) – Martin Maldonado (catcher), and starting pitcher Verlander.
Texas, opposing this, is Marcus Siemien (second baseman) – Corey Seager (shortstop) – Nathaniel Rowe (first baseman) – Adolis Garcia (right fielder) – Mitch Garber (designated hitter) – Jonah Haim (catcher) – Travis Jankowski (left fielder) ) – Josh Smith (third baseman) – Leody Tavares (center fielder), starting pitcher Scherzer.
Verlander and Scherzer worked together at the New York Mets early in the season and worked together to win the World Series. However, as the season progressed, the Mets continued to slump and hovered in the bottom tier, and with the trade deadline approaching, they raised the white flag by trading Verlander and Scherzer. So the two split up, and on this day they had their first confrontation after moving.
Because it was a match between Verlander and Scherzer, who are considered the best pitchers in the league, there was a lot of interest even before the game. However, the game was somewhat bland. Verlander neatly blocked the Texas batting lineup, and Scherzer had difficulty suppressing Houston’s bats and bowed his head.메이저놀이터
Verlander and Scherzer both gave up runs in the first inning. Scherzer hit a two-run home run off Alvarez in the top of the first inning, and Verlander allowed a solo shot to leadoff hitter Simeon in the bottom of the first inning.
The top of the second inning started with Houston ahead 2-1. From this point on, the fates of the two pitchers began to change little by little. Houston took a 3-1 lead in the top of the second inning when Brantley hit a solo shot. Continuing the momentum, Altuve’s grand slam home run in the top of the third inning made it 7-1.
In the end, Scherzer couldn’t hold out. Before the top of the 4th inning, he was replaced by relief pitcher Chris Stratton and finished his appearance that day. His final performance was 3 innings, 6 hits (3 home runs), 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, and 7 runs allowed.
Conversely, Verlander sent out a runner due to a defensive error in the bottom of the 5th inning when the team was ahead 8-1, and then allowed a timely hit to Simeon to make it 8-2, but after that, he completely blocked the opponent’s batting lineup. His final performance was 4 hits (1 home run), 1 walk, 6 strikeouts, and 2 runs (1 earned run) in 7 innings. 11th win (7 losses) of the season.
Thanks to Verlander’s good pitching, Houston defeated Texas and won 12-3. They reached the 80th win mark in the season and recorded a record of 80 wins and 61 losses, widening the game gap with their American League West rival Texas (76 wins and 63 losses) to ‘3’. At the same time as they swept the series, they bombarded the Texas mound by scoring double digits in every game.
In an interview with Major League Baseball’s official website ‘MLB.com’ after the game, Verlander said, “As a starting pitcher, my goal was to deliver momentum (to the team). The (outstanding) offense of the batting line made this series easy. Although it is not the playoffs yet, “It is time to see what the players can do with their energy and concentration,” he said.