The Mets’ offense was nonexistent for the first seven innings as they were defeated by a dominant left-hander Framber Valdez and the Houston Astros 4-2 on Tuesday night.
Here are some takeaways…
– Justin Verlander made his highly anticipated return to Houston tonight. The right-hander pitched for the Astros from 2017-22 and posted a dominant 2.26 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, and 825 strikeouts over 102 starts.
After a strong outing against the Yankees his last time out, Verlander got off to a nice start in this one. He easily retired the first six batters he faced, including a strikeout Jose Abreu on a changeup in the dirt.
Verlander didn’t fare as well in the third, however, as Houston jumped all over him. Corey Julkswho led off the inning with a double, scored on a Jose Altuve sacrifice fly. A batter later, Alex Bregman crushed a 3-0 offering into the Crawford Boxes to cap off the three-run inning.
Thankfully for the Mets, he was able to settle back in after that, as he worked around two more hits in a scoreless fourth and retired the Stros in order in the fifth and sixth. Houston added another run against Verlander in the seventh, as Altuve picked up his second RBI of the game with a two-out single, making it a 4-0 ballgame.
Verlander was able to get out of the inning after that, bringing his night to an end. Besides one bad inning, he pitched well, allowing four runs on eight hits while striking out five.
– Unfortunately for Verlander, though, Valdez was that much better tonight. The lefty retired the first 16 batters he faced with eight strikeouts, before Mark Canha gave New York their first hit of the game with a one-out single in the sixth. The threat was quickly erased, though, as Eduardo Escobar grounded into an inning-ending double play.
– The Mets were finally able to get something going against Valdez in the eighth, as Tommy Pham and Francisco Alvarez lined back-to-back hits, setting up two in scoring position with no one out. Two batters later, Canha lined a sacrifice fly to right and Escobar dropped in a two-out single to cut the Astros lead in half.
– The Mets had one last chance in the ninth as Pete Alonso drew a four-pitch walk with two outs, bringing the red-hot Pham to the plate as the tying run, but Astros closer Ryan Pressley was able to get him to strikeout to end the game.
After scoring 11 times on Monday, the Mets managed just two runs and six baserunners in this one.
Highlights
What’s next
These two teams face off in the rubber game of this series on Wednesday afternoon at 2:10 pm on SNY.
Taylor Megill (6-4, 4.83 ERA) will look to build off a strong start his last time out as he faces off against a right-hander Cristian Javier (7-1, 2.90 ERA).