“Pleasantly Surprised”: Justin Verlander Reviews His Own Performance As Astros End Losing Streak

The Houston Astros can finally heave a sigh of relief. Lately, they looked like a pale shadow of themselves. Even though the hitters were up to their usual standards, the pitching staff left much to be desired. In fact, as of now the Astros’ pitching ranks amongst the worst in the league. So much for the Astronauts aiming for the moon, they were actually heading toward the Mariana Trench. But then Justin Verlander came back and suddenly the rocket has corrected its course.

Verlander had been out since the Spring Training due to some shoulder issues. During his absence, the Astros floundered and lost 3 of the 6 series they played. So when Verlander’s return was announced, it gave them some relief. The 3x Cy Young winner immediately motivated the team during a team meeting, but his on-field performance gave a clear message.

Justin Verlander stood on the mound and faced the Washington Nationals who perished one after the other. In 78 pitches that totaled 6 innings, Verlander gave away a mere 2 runs. While he did give away one homer, overall Verlander gave away only 4 hits. That was an encouraging performance from a 41-year-old pitcher who was just returning from an injury. 

While it lit up the fans’ eyes, Verlander was left “pleasantly surprised” by his performance. Prior to this game, Verlander had been struggling with control. “The control wasn’t quite what I would have liked in the rehab starts. I was just looking at mechanics and trying to find something to make it click,” Verlander said to Houston Chronicle. 

Later the superstar shared that he tried to be a bit more “directional” this time and it finally clicked. However, while things looked good for Verlander, there are still a few places where an improvement could be expected.

Justin Verlander’s comeback is off to a great start but there’s still a long way to go

Despite a good start, there were some issues with Verlander’s pitches. Namely, his fastball averaged 93.5 mph which was almost 1 mph less than his 2023 average. He also struck out only four batters and couldn’t make enough hitters to swing and miss. Verlander also noted that his pitches didn’t have the necessary power that he desired.

“I would have liked to have seen the slider be a little sharper. I thought the changeup got some good results, specifically speaking like how the hitters reacted to it,” Verlander said. “Fastball had decent life on it and located it well, and the curveball got some big outs as well. So overall, pretty pleased.”

It was certainly a great way to start his campaign for Verlander. With the ace only looking to get better from here on, things look pretty good for the Houston Astros. Finally, the team might start looking like its old self again.