Blue Jays no-hit for second time by Verlander
TORONTO -- It was deja vu all over again for Justin Verlander in Toronto on Sunday afternoon, as he no-hit the Blue Jays for the second time in his career during Houston’s 2-0 victory at Rogers Centre.
It was Verlander’s third career no-hitter, with his first coming back on June 12, 2007, when Verlander was just 24. He made history again against the Blue Jays on May 7, 2011, with a 108-pitch no-hitter that was one J.P. Arencibia walk shy of being a perfect game.
Cavan Biggio walked in the first inning on Sunday -- just the second batter that Verlander faced -- but Verlander was perfect the rest of the way. The right-hander needed 120 pitches to finish off the Blue Jays this time around and struck out 14, giving him double-digit strikeouts in eight of his past nine starts.
“He is who is is for a reason. He was the most aggressive pitcher I’ve ever faced,” infielder Bo Bichette said. “He kept coming after me, no matter what. A lot of guys will go through a lineup getting somebody out one way, then change it the next. He just kept attacking, kept attacking.”
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The score stayed deadlocked at 0-0 until the ninth inning, when Canadian rookie Abraham Toro hit his second career Major League home run, a two-run shot to left field to give Verlander a clean shot at the no-hitter in the bottom half.
The Blue Jays were two steps behind Verlander all afternoon as the veteran ace worked up and down in the zone with pinpoint precision. Verlander forced 23 swinging strikes, but he avoided the barrel of the bat when he worked inside the zone, too. Billy McKinney was the only Blue Jays hitter to hit a ball harder than 100 mph, according to Statcast, and it went for a groundout.
“He’s just one of the best pitchers in baseball, and he was on,” Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo said. “After that walk to Biggio, he just dealt. There’s nothing I can say about him. He’s one of the best pitchers in baseball.”
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The Blue Jays struggled to adjust to Verlander as the game went on, but given how sharp he was, even the perfect adjustments might not have sufficed. There were plenty of big swings from the Blue Jays in the later innings as they looked to break the deadlock, but Verlander knew just when to take a bit off.
Against such an aggressive pitcher, the Blue Jays were forced to decide whether to fight fire with fire or ease off the gas.
“I think it depends on who you are,” Bichette said. “Some guys have got to ease back, and some guys have got to match it. For me, I’ve got to match it. I was kind of passive in my first three at-bats. The last at-bat, I tried to be more aggressive, and I think the quality of my at-bat showed. It’s just things to learn from. He pitched a great game. It [stinks], but hopefully we get him next time.”
Verlander also knew when to reach back for a little extra when the moment called for it.
After sitting around 94 mph for most of the afternoon, Verlander threw his three hardest pitches to that point in a strikeout sequence to Randal Grichuk in the eighth inning. Those pitches were clocked, in a tidy order, at 95.8 mph, 95.9 mph and 96 mph. In the ninth, Verlander cranked it up over 96 mph five times and closed things out by forcing Bichette to ground out on a 96.9 mph fastball.
“I wanted to get him,” said Bichette, whose tone conveyed the importance of that final battle. “I thought I was seeing the ball really, really well in the last at-bat. I made some good adjustments. I honestly thought I was going to get him.”