JV offers master class in adjustments, crafts gem

HOUSTON -- Justin Verlander twirled his right hand near his waist in a circular motion as he stared down Martín Maldonado with a full count against what would be his final batter, disagreeing with what PitchCom was echoing in his ear.

This brief cat-and-mouse moment of pitcher shaking off catcher was akin to a golfer finding common ground with his caddy. An artist was at work and he insisted on putting the finishing touches on his latest masterpiece, the next historic chapter in a career full of them.

And after a brief mound visit to state his case, Verlander emphatically closed the book. The 39-year-old dumped a slider low and in to Matt Carpenter and the lefty-hitting DH swung on top of it, becoming the 11th batter to buckle against the ageless ace in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Wednesday at Minute Maid Park.

Verlander’s heroics, coupled with three solo homers from unsung contributors in Houston’s loaded lineup, propelled the Astros to a 4-2 victory over the Yankees, delivering a first blow in this best-of-seven bout.

“As the game is going along, you just gain more confidence as you start making better pitches,” Verlander said. “Once I started being able to execute my pitches the way I wanted, I feel like my confidence just kind of built upon that.”

The superlatives of Verlander’s gem are numerous. It was his eighth career postseason outing with at least 10 strikeouts, two more than anyone else all time. At 39 years and 241 days old, he was the second-oldest pitcher in postseason history to clear that mark, joining Nolan Ryan, who also did so for Houston in Game 5 of the 1986 NLCS.

At one point, Verlander struck out six in a row, tying a postseason record accomplished eight times prior, the most recent by -- guess who -- Verlander, in Game 3 of the 2013 ALCS with the Tigers. For good measure, he passed Clayton Kershaw for the most postseason strikeouts all time, his career tally up to 219.

“Sometimes, when you get too caught up in the moment, you probably don't pay as much attention as you should to the little details,” Verlander said. “So I really just try to keep an even flow and just keep executing pitches the way I have been because I'm in a rhythm.”

Yet the way Verlander finished the outing was a drastic contrast to how he began it. His fastball velocity was down in the first inning, an alarming trend given that he’d been tagged for six runs and battled mechanics issues his last time out, and he couldn’t locate his secondary stuff.

His pitch count ballooned to 57 with only one out in the third inning -- after he surrendered a 112.8 mph double to Giancarlo Stanton that put runners on second and third. Yet, all of a sudden, something clicked and Verlander struck out Josh Donaldson and Carpenter to escape the jam. And from there, he was off and running. He didn’t allow another baserunner, retiring each of his final 11 batters.

“It was big of him to pitch out of trouble,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “When he got the strikeout to Donaldson, boy, that was huge. This guy, he can get out of trouble. And then the strikeout to Carpenter, he dialed it up. He got it together. He was actually better between [pitches] 80 and 100 than he was prior to that. He was dealing.”

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The resurgent turnaround depended on Verlander finding the feel to his curveball and slider, the latter of which was tagged for the double by Stanton and a massive, 411-foot homer from Harrison Bader in the second, the lone run Verlander surrendered.

“Vitally important,” Verlander said. “It was a little loose early in the game. I was able to, particularly the slider, make some adjustments though and kind of get that pitch where I wanted it to be, thank goodness, because the Yankees’ lineup is hard enough to face when you are on. When your stuff's not working, it's incredibly difficult. So I was really able to lean on it later in the game and obviously have some success with it.”

A case could be made that what’s most impressive about Verlander at this stage in his career is the ability to make mid-game adjustments, something far easier said than done -- especially in the pressure-packed postseason. And Wednesday was the clearest such example.

“I think that's what veterans do,” Verlander said. “We've been around long enough, we know ourselves well enough that when something's not working, it's like I've got a checklist of things that's like, ‘All right, try to fix this, try to fix that. Did it work?’ ... I think you’ve just got to continue to try to sharpen your craft all the time.”