Justin Verlander turns in dominant outing as Astros trounce Phillies

Final: Astros 10, Phillies 0

HOUSTON — If there is a Game 3 in the National League Wild Card Series, Ranger Suárez will get the ball for the Philadelphia Phillies. If the Phillies win the NLWCS in two games, Suárez is a good bet to pitch Game 1 of the NLDS.

Should either scenario present itself, the Phillies will have to hope that Suárez performs better than he did in the second-to-last game of the regular season.

Before you could blink in the bottom of the first inning, the Houston Astros had jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a 424-foot home run by Jeremy Peña:

Kyle Schwarber territory (approximately) pic.twitter.com/yghZmEDJyZ

— Phillies Nation (@PhilliesNation) October 5, 2022

Three batters later, Kyle Tucker extended Houston’s lead by hitting a three-run shot:

Also Kyle Schwarber territory (approximately) pic.twitter.com/YFFsL4yx9z

— Phillies Nation (@PhilliesNation) October 5, 2022

For good measure, Astros’ catcher Martín Maldonado — who isn’t exactly Mike Piazza at the plate — led off the top of the second inning with a solo home run:

Hold up, wait a minute, y'all thought we were finished? pic.twitter.com/d7xdixiDDh

— Houston Astros (@astros) October 5, 2022

With the Phillies having clinched a postseason berth Monday, the plan for Suárez was for him to go four innings and/or 65 pitches Tuesday night. He ultimately threw 67 pitches, allowing seven hits, three home runs and six earned runs in three innings. He’ll finish the season with a 3.65 ERA.

Meanwhile, the Astros know there will be an ALDS Game 1 on Oct. 11 at Minute Maid Park, and if Tuesday — or the last two decades — are any indication, they should feel pretty good about handing the ball to Justin Verlander.

A night after Aaron Nola took a perfect game into the seventh inning, the Astros no-hit the Phillies for the first eight innings of Tuesday’s game. It wasn’t until former Astro Garrett Stubbs led off the ninth inning with a single off of Will Smith that the Phillies broke into the hits column, naturally starting a run of three consecutive singles. The Phillies didn’t ultimately push any runs across.

The first five of those no-hit frames came from Verlander, who perhaps locked up his third American League Cy Young Award by striking out 10 and not allowing any hits.

With the Astros having clinched the AL West a long time ago, Dusty Baker didn’t push Verlander. But it’s still worth pointing out how incredible it is that he’s still pitching at this high of a level.

Dave Dombrowski and the Detroit Tigers drafted Verlander No. 2 overall in the 2004 MLB Draft. He’s 39 years old. Few pitchers have ever had the type of longevity that Verlander has.

The icing on the cake to this story is that the nine-time All-Star missed nearly all of the last two seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery. To be a power pitcher on the cusp of your 40th birthday having this much success after such a major procedure, it’s just hard to fathom.

At this stage, Verlander’s career is like what Roy Halladay’s would have looked like if he remained a front-line starter through, say, 2015. Halladay was a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection anyway, and Verlander will be one day as well.

With the loss, the Phillies fall to 87-74, with one game left to play in 2022. The Astros, meanwhile, have won an AL-best 105 games. They’ll fall just short of their franchise record of 107 wins, set in 2019.

Bailey Falter will get the ball for the Phillies in Game 162 Wednesday afternoon, with fellow lefty Framber Valdez slated to toe the rubber for the Astros.

Phillies Nugget Of The Game

When Verlander struck out 8 hitters in a row tonight, that was a career high for him and tied the franchise record done twice previously: Jim Deshaies on Sept. 23, 1986 vs. LAD (first 8 hitters) and Don Wilson on July 14, 1968 at CIN.

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) October 5, 2022

Ticket IQ Next Game

• Wednesday, Oct. 5 vs. Astros at Minute Maid Park
• 4:10 p.m. ET
• TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
• Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
• Spanish Radio: WTTM 1680

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