Did a disastrous outing break the Houston Astros ace?

The Houston Astros desperately needed a spark before Tuesday night’s series opener against the New York Yankees in the Bronx. After suffering back-to-back losses to the Seattle Mariners, the Astros were counting on a strong performance from Justin Verlander to get them back in the win column.

Unfortunately, Verlander fell short, having his worst start to the season. He was pulverized to the tune of seven runs – the most he ever allowed to the Yankees – on eight hits in five innings, suffering his first loss of the year.

Verlander simply wasn’t able to stop the bleeding, giving up at least one run in four of his five innings and allowing the Yankees to cruise to a 10-3 victory. Houston has now lost Verlander’s last three starts, scoring just six points combined in those outings.

After the match, a visibly distraught Verlander looked like a broken man during his post-match interview with reporters.

“They had a good approach and I wasn’t very good,” conceded Verlander. “These guys showed me today that I have work to do. I need to be more deceptive.”

Deception was missing from Verlander, who gave up more home runs (three) than he had allowed in his previous three starts combined (two). He also admitted that walks have been a problem for him lately and talked about “going back to the drawing board.”

“On the contrary, I understood that I have to be better. Starting tomorrow, I have a lot of work to do,” said a deflated Verlander.

At 41 years old and with more than 3,000 innings under his belt, Verlander seems to be running out of ways to fool hitters. In four starts spanning 22 1/3 innings this season, he has allowed 21 hits, 11 runs, five home runs and 10 walks while only getting 15 strikeouts, posting a ghastly 6.05 FIP.

Verlander has made plenty of adjustments over the past two decades, but the Astros need him to get back on track as soon as possible. With the way their season is going, they can’t afford to have their best pitcher out for batting practice.

The three-time Cy Young winner will try to right the ship this weekend against his former team, the Detroit Tigers.