Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander fell five outs short of his fourth career no-hitter Tuesday night at Target Field. He lost the no-hit bid when Minnesota Twins third baseman Gio Urshela served a clean single to right field with one out in the eighth. Verlander finished with just the one hit allowed in eight shutout innings (HOU 5, MIN 0).
Here is Urshela’s history-ruining base hit:
Verlander faced the minimum 24 batters in his eight innings. He issued two walks in addition to Urshela’s single, and the three baserunners were erased on two double plays and a caught stealing. Verlander improved to 4-1 with a 1.55 ERA through six starts on the young season.
Here are four takeaways from Verlander’s near no-hit performance.
1. Houston’s defense was excellent
Verlander struck out five batters in his eight innings and he had a lots of help from his defense. The Astros made several stellar plays behind him, including a diving catch by Michael Brantley and a barehanded play by Alex Bregman. Check out the glovework:
Every no-hitter seem to have that one defensive play that saves the game. Had Verlander been able to complete it Tuesday, we could have pointed to no fewer than two plays that kept the no-hit bid alive. The Astros went into the game leading baseball in defensive runs saved (plus-22) and outs above average (plus-14). Good defense is the norm.
2. Verlander hasn’t lost anything
Watching him Tuesday night, it was easy to forget Verlander missed most of 2020 and all of 2021 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He returned this season at age 39 and hasn’t missed a beat. As noted, he lowered his ERA to 1.55 in six starts and 40 2/3 innings. His 25.4 percent strikeout rate is down a bit from his 30-plus-percent peak, but is still very good.
Verlander’s fastball sat at 94.7 mph and topped out at 96.1 mph Tuesday, and hitters missed with four of their 14 swings against his slider (29 percent)….
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