Justin Verlander Continues His Comeback, Improves to 11-3 With Win Over Royals

In 2019, Houston Astros righthander Justin Verlander won the A.L. Cy Young Award for the second time, posting a 21-6 record with a 2.58 ERA. In 2020, the season was delayed until mid July due to Covid-19; Verlander pitched the Astros’ opener (and won) before being shut down with what was called a forearm strain. It turned out that it was more serious than that. He missed the rest of 2020 and all of the 2021 seasons due to Tommy John surgery.

Verlander returned to action at the beginning of the 2022 season. The question to be answered was how well he could pitch at age 39 after missing nearly two years due to injury and recovery from surgery. The answer through the 1st half of the season is “pretty darn good”. On July 7th, Verlander pitched six innings against the Kansas City Royals, allowed seven hits and one earned run, with eight strikeouts as the Astros beat the Royals 5-2. Verlander improved to 11-3 on the season, with a 2.00 ERA. He leads the American League in victories, and is second in ERA.

With the victory, the Astros go into a weekend series at Oakland with a record of 54-28, and a whopping 13 game lead over the 2nd place Seattle Mariners in the American League West. With the Astros’ solid offense in support, Verlander is on track to match his 2019 numbers, and has an outside shot at getting close to his 24-5, 2.40 performance in 2011 when he was with the Detroit Tigers. He won his 1st Cy Young Award that year, and also was the A.L. MVP.