Three-time Cy Young Award winners faced each other for the first time. The first ever match between Justin Verlander (40, Houston) and Max Scherzer (39, Texas), who were a one-two punch until just a month ago, ended poorly. It was a complete victory for Verlander.
Verlander and Scherzer faced each other as starters at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, USA on the 7th (Korean time). It was the final game of the series for both teams. Verlander stepped up to sweep the series, and Scherzer stepped up to prevent the series sweep.
A match between living legends who have each won the Cy Young Award three times. Verlander and Scherzer played together as a one-two punch for the Detroit Tigers from 2010 to 2015. The partnership ended when Scherzer moved to the Washington Nationals in 2015, but Verlander signed a contract with the Mets ahead of this season, reuniting with Scherzer, who joined a year ago, in a one-two punch.
However, as the Mets’ performance plummeted, they chose fire sale, and Verlander and Scherzer split up again. Ironically, they settled in Houston and Texas, which are competing for the American League West division rankings. And on this day, we even had a selection match. Surprisingly, this was the first time in history that Verlander and Scherzer faced each other as starters. It was safe to call it the match of the century.
The match ended dully. Scherzer collapsed first. Scherzer was punished on this day with 6 hits (3 home runs), 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, and 7 runs in 3 innings. Scherzer allowed a long hit from the first inning. After one out, he was hit by a double from Jeremy Pena and a two-run shot by Yordan Alvarez. In the second inning, with one out and no runner on base, he gave up a solo shot to Michael Brantley again.
And in the third inning, he allowed an infield hit to shortstop by Jeremy Pena and a walk to Yordan Alvarez. He threw out Alex Bregman on a fly ball to right field, but gave up another walk to Kyle Tucker, putting the bases loaded with one out. In the end, he allowed Jose Abreu to hit a left-center grand slam, recording his 7th run.
The third inning ended, but Scherzer was no longer on the mound. While he hit 23 home runs in 19 games with the Mets, he suffered from long-hitting problems, but after moving to Texas, he was able to find stability by giving up only 2 home runs in 6 games. However, Scherzer bowed his head with three home runs on this day.메이저놀이터
On the other hand, Verlander hit a leadoff home run from Marcus Semien in the first inning and gave up two runs when he hit a timely hit from Semien again in the fifth inning. But he pitched the rest of the innings perfectly. He pitched well in 7 innings, allowing 4 hits (1 home run), 1 walk, 6 strikeouts, and 2 runs (1 earned run).
On the 2nd, against the Yankees, he was hit hard with 8 hits (4 home runs), 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, and 6 runs in 6 innings, but he immediately recovered and pitched perfectly. After moving to Houston, his records were 7 games, 5 wins, 2 losses, and an average ERA of 3.43 (16 earned runs in 42 innings). Excluding the 6 runs allowed in 6 innings against the Yankees, his earned run average drops to 2.50.
In the end, the match ended dully as Scherzer collapsed and Verlander fought well. Houston won 12-3. Houston swept the Texas Series for 3 consecutive wins and a record of 80 wins and 61 losses. Houston led the American League West Division, while Texas suffered three consecutive losses and remained at 76-63.
And with today’s loss, Texas is ranked 4th in the wild card rankings. On this day, Ryu Hyun-jin started as a starter, but Toronto, which suffered a shock 1-5 loss to the weakest team, Oakland, is in third place.