Yanks tee off on old nemesis JV en route to laugher

NEW YORK -- The Yankees have never hit Justin Verlander like this.

The Bronx Bombers pounded Verlander for seven runs in Tuesday night's 10-3 demolition of the Astros in the series opener at Yankee Stadium -- the most they've scored in a game against the Astros' ace since he first arrived in Houston in 2017.

Verlander has been the Yankees' nemesis ever since, and one of the central figures in the Yankees-Astros rivalry that's become one of the game's most intense over the last decade, as the two clubs have clashed three times in the postseason, with Houston winning all three series.

Throughout that run, Verlander has always seemed to have the Yankees' number, especially in October, when Houston has beaten the Yankees in four of Verlander's five starts against them. In 12 total starts as an Astro against the Yankees, Verlander had a 2.59 ERA. But on Tuesday, New York finally turned the tables.

"Look, I think we're capable of this," manager Aaron Boone said. "Obviously you're not going to run out offensive nights like this every night -- especially against a guy like Justin. But they are capable of that."

The Yankees hammered three home runs against the 41-year-old right-hander. Alex Verdugo got the Bronx "Dawg Pound" going with a three-run shot to right-center field in the first inning. Anthony Volpe hit an opposite-field skyscraper to the short porch in the fourth. And Giancarlo Stanton put the exclamation point on the Yankees' outburst with a 118.8 mph rocket off Verlander into the left-center-field bullpen in the fifth.

"We had a really good plan and were really prepared going in, and when that translates into success on the field, that's super encouraging," Volpe said. "Obviously he's an incredible, [likely] Hall of Fame pitcher. But a lot of guys have had a lot of at-bats, and certain guys have a lot of success, against him. We were just trying to go out and be aggressive."

Volpe hasn't experienced peak Verlander against the Bronx Bombers -- the second-year shortstop has never faced him in a Cy Young season, or in the playoffs -- but he did see Verlander four times in the 2023 regular season. Volpe went 0-for-9. His home run was his first career hit off Verlander. That's the kind of night the Yankees were having.

Verdugo has even less experience against Verlander and the Astros. It's his first season in pinstripes, and he'd faced Verlander only once in his career, last August with the Red Sox, going 0-for-2 with a strikeout. But he remembered what he saw.

"I just remember the fastball having some pretty good ride," Verdugo said. "And I would always be under it, under it, under it. Today was just trying to be a little bit more on top of the ball, and hit lower line drives."

Verdugo continues to inject energy into the heart of the Yankees’ lineup, where he's found himself hitting cleanup thanks to his early-season success, between Aaron Judge and Stanton.

"Oh, man. Sometimes it's a little bit humbling when you've got Judge up there, he's looking down at me, and then you've got Stanton back right behind me," Verdugo said, craning his neck to his right, then his left, as if he was staring up at the Yankees' two giants. "I'm like the small guy in the group. But honestly, man, I love it. I really do."

Stanton's homer was the hardest batted ball -- not just home run -- by any hitter off Verlander since Statcast began tracking in 2015. It was a true frozen rope, which at its apex only got 49 feet off the ground.

Right before the pitch, Boone walked over to bench coach Brad Ausmus -- Verlander's manager with the Tigers from 2014 until he was traded to Houston in '17 -- and called Stanton's shot: "He's going deep right here."

"I didn't know it was going to be the 2-iron variety, where it's a base hit to left … oops, into the bullpen," Boone said. "He's a unicorn in that way. He's weird. It's just absolutely remarkable to hit a ball at that trajectory the way he did."

It was the type of swing the Yankees just don't usually put on Verlander. In five starts at Yankee Stadium as an Astro -- four in the regular season, one in the postseason -- Verlander had never allowed more than four runs. His ERA in the Bronx was 2.86.

"When you have the track record that a lot of [our] guys have," Boone said, "those things are possible."