The Houston Astros’ Justin Verlander was totally fine leaving with a no-hitter intact after six innings against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.
“I like to go deep in games in the regular season, but I’d rather do it in the post-season or at least be fresh and strong for that,” he said.
Verlander posted his MLB-leading 16th win as the Astros beat Minnesota in Carlos Correa’s return to Houston.
Photo: Troy Taormina-USA Today
Correa, making his first visit to Houston after leaving the Astros to join the Twins this off-season, received a huge ovation when honored during a pre-game ceremony where he was presented with his American League Championship ring.
Verlander (16-3) allowed just one runner to reach base — Nick Gordon struck out in the second inning on a wild pitch to get aboard. Verlander fanned 10 and lowered his MLB-best earned run average to 1.87 in his spectacular return after missing almost two seasons after Tommy John surgery.
Manager Dusty Baker said Verlander was on a pitch limit of 90 as the Astros transition from a six to five-man rotation, but he still asked Verlander if he wanted to keep going as he had not allowed a hit.
“After six innings at ... 91 pitches, you know it’s not going to be one of those nights,” Verlander said. “Maybe 15 years ago, 10 years ago when I loved throwing 130-something, but not now and specifically not after Tommy John in my first season back.”
The 39-year-old Verlander was pulled after 91 pitches. He is the only active player to have thrown three no-hitters — in May, he lost a no-hit try against the Twins in the eighth inning at Target Field.
Ryne Stanek relieved to begin the seventh and Correa led off with Minnesota’s first hit.
“I didn’t want to get no-hit on the first game back, so I had to drop that one in there,” Correa said.
Alex Bregman’s homer helped the American League West-leading Astros build a 4-0 lead. The Twins scored twice in the ninth and had the bases loaded before Bryan Abreu struck out Jake Cave to end it.
The Twins lost their fourth straight game in a night of struggles at the plate that came after they placed All-Star outfielder Byron Buxton on the injured list with a hip strain. Until their late rally, the most noise Minnesota made came when manager Rocco Baldelli was ejected during an animated argument.
Things got testy in the fifth when Twins starter Aaron Sanchez (0-1) plunked Jose Altuve on the left thigh. There was some jawing between Altuve and Sanchez and benches cleared, but there was no pushing or shoving.
Order was soon restored, but after Yuli Gurriel walked on four pitches, Baldelli came out of the dugout yelling at the umpires. He was soon ejected by first base umpire Todd Tichenor, but that did not stop him from screaming and gesturing wildly for a few more minutes before leaving the field.
Baldelli said he was upset as he believes he was charged with a visit to the mound when he went to try to calm down Sanchez and was not properly informed of it.
“At the bare minimum I think there’s probably it’s necessary for someone to come over and let us know that a visit was given,” he said. “So that’s it. I disagreed and I disagreed on multiple levels.”
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
Thanks to Italy beating Mexico on Wednesday, the US get another chance in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). What looked like a potentially disastrous early exit for US manager Mark DeRosa and his team turned out to be nothing more than substantial worry and significant embarrassment for about 24 hours. It remains to be seen whether the US really want to win badly enough for the reprieve to matter, as if it is just a switch they can flick, but there is little reason for their fans to be optimistic. The team’s attitude and behavior have been all over the place when
MEDVEDEV AWAITS: The world No. 1 Spainiard said that he is ‘finding the right shots’ as he pushed his record so far this year to 16 victories and no losses Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday extended his unbeaten season and got revenge over Cameron Norrie to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells for a fifth straight year. The world No. 1 from Spain emerged from a see-saw battle with 29th-ranked Norrie with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. In the semis tomorrow, he faces Russian Daniil Medvedev, who pushed his own ATP winning streak to eight matches with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over defending champion Jack Draper. World No. 2 Jannik Sinner powered past Learner Tien 6-1, 6-2 to line up a semi-final with fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Arthur Fils. Alcaraz, 22, became
RSS