Verlander comes up huge when Mets need him most

A big start like this for Justin Verlander at Citi Field wasn’t supposed to come like this, or come this early. But it came on Wednesday night against the Yankees, anyway, Verlander against his old Houston teammate Gerrit Cole, now the ace for the Yankees. This was the kind of stage and kind of night Verlander surely imagined when he signed on with the Mets. Just not after they’d just lost nine out of 10 and were desperate for it not to become 10 of 11 in a Subway Series game.

The Mets needed Verlander to go toe to toe with Cole, with whom he’d been at the top of the rotation once with the Astros the way he and Max Scherzer now are with the Mets. More than anything, the Mets needed a game and so did Verlander, badly. He got one. In a lot of ways, because of everything that has been happening with the Mets, it felt for this one night like the biggest game of the year so far for them.

The Mets ended up winning, 4-3, in the bottom of the 10th, and earning a split with the Yankees in the process. Brandon Nimmo hit one over Jake Bauers’ head and over his glove in right field, and Eduardo Escobar finally came around to score after originally going back to tag up. But the headliner on this night for the Mets was Justin Verlander, doing what he was brought here to do, and for very big money:

Pitch like a star.

Cole did that for the Yankees. Verlander did that for the Mets. We don’t get a lot of pitching matchups like this across a baseball season. We all sure got one Wednesday night at Citi Field. It was something to see for the six innings they were both out there. Cole gave up four hits and a run and struck out eight. Verlander gave up three hits and a run against his friend and old teammate and struck out six.

“I gave [Cole] a little hat tip before the game when we were warming up,” Verlander said. “Just [out] of respect.”

Cole: “It’s a pleasure to take the field with that caliber type of player. As far as the atmosphere tonight, it was electric, like playoff-type. Just fun, back and forth, crowd into it. So, it was just a great game to be part of.”

Cole has pitched like an ace almost all season long for the Yankees. Verlander has not, at the age of 40, even coming off his third Cy Young Award last season for the Astros, and another World Series title, and still looking like one of the best power pitchers in the game. He started the season on the injured list with a terses major injury. He still just has a 2-3 record and 4.40 ERA after eight starts.

He showed up at Citi Field the night after Scherzer had gotten lit up by the Yankees, even after having been handed an early 5-1 lead. Verlander even heard boos from his new home crowd last month after getting lit up himself in his Citi Field debut.

He is on his way to the Hall of Fame, Justin Verlander is. Now he makes it to New York for what is likely his last stop before Cooperstown. He gets this kind of stage. He had not done very much with it. Until Wednesday night.

“This is definitely the brightest light, especially in a regular-season game,” Verlander said after the Mets won. “At this point for our team, every win matters. We’ve got to start winning some ballgames.”

Verlander’s last start had come last week in Atlanta against the Braves. The Mets got swept. Verlander got hit, and hard. He lasted three innings, gave up seven hits, five runs (four earned) and walked four. His ERA went to 4.85 that night. It is why he needed to show up against the Yankees, and against Gerrit Cole.

Here is what Verlander’s manager, Buck Showalter, said after the game about what he’d just seen from him against the Yankees:

“He took a lot of pride in rebounding. He was crushed about last outing and spent the whole time between deep diving into why.”

The velocity is still there with Verlander, of course. The spin rate is still there. All that. But he is still 40. Tommy John once told me, “When you’re young and in a slump as a pitcher, you’re just in a slump. When you get old and you’re in a slump, you’re old.”

The Mets keep telling themselves that there is a lot of season left to play, even as they are currently closer to last place in the National League East than first. But a lot has gone wrong for them so far. Over the last two weeks, just about everything has gone wrong. They nearly blew another game because of bad defense on Wednesday. But Verlander gave them six sparkling innings before Nimmo finally won it in the bottom of the 10th.

Big win for the Mets. Felt like a bigger win for Verlander even without a decision. Maybe this was a start that really is the start of something for him in New York. He didn’t look old on Wednesday. Just like the old Justin Verlander.