Houston Astros Ace Impresses With Stellar Outing Despite Loss

The Houston Astros have a future first-ballot Hall of Famer on their roster and he had another vintage performance Wednesday night against the Seattle Mariners.

Justin Verlander is 41 years old but there are times when he throws, it’s hard to tell.

His last outing was one of those occasions.

In seven innings of work, Verlander struck out nine batters and allowed just one run on three hits. The problem is that their offense also only scored one run that day, as they would lose the game in the 10th inning.

The Virginia native fell to a 3.26 ERA on the year with a very impressive 1.13 WHIP. That would be a better number than a good number of seasons throughout his career.

His fastball continues to lose some of its vigor, up to 93.7 mph on average, but he is still capable of producing strong performances after 19 years of career.

There have been concerns about him at different points this season, given that two of his outings in May lasted five innings or less and he allowed four or more runs.

However, this seems to be more of an exception than the rule.

Five of his eight outings this year have been “quality starts.”

His continued excellence has been indispensable throughout the difficult season the Astros pitching staff has endured. He himself started the year on the injured list.

As a team, the Houstons’ starting pitchers rank 27th this season with a combined 4.91 ERA. Verlander and Ronel Blanco have been the team’s most consistent pitchers this year.

Poor pitching play is a big reason the Astros are 24-32, but that wasn’t the case Wednesday as their ace continued to turn back the clock.