SEATTLE -- The Astros sure can spoil a party. One day after a sellout crowd brought an electric energy to T-Mobile Park for the Mariners’ home opener, Seattle’s bats went quietly in a 4-0 loss, in huge part due to a rematch with an old nemesis.

Justin Verlander, who has stymied Seattle since arriving in Houston in 2017, held the Mariners to just three hits over eight shutout innings while looking every bit the elite form he showed before undergoing Tommy John surgery in '20. The 39-year-old hadn’t gone that deep into a start since his most recent no-hitter on Sept. 1, 2019, striking out eight and limiting the Mariners to just three baserunners, all via singles, one night after they had 23 on the basepaths.

Since the blockbuster deal five years ago that sent Verlander from the Tigers to Astros at the waiver Trade Deadline, he advanced to 7-1 with a 3.03 ERA in 10 starts against Seattle, with Houston victorious in nine of them.

“Justin Verlander was outstanding tonight, and unfortunately, right when you think he might be slowing down, it's as good as we've seen him,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “We haven’t seen him in a long time; certainly he’s been dealing with injuries, but he was sharp as he could be.”

Though Verlander was the obvious headliner, Chris Flexen battled through six innings to keep the game within reach, surrendering three runs, five hits and one walk. His biggest mistake, a middle-in changeup to Martín Maldonado, loomed large given how Verlander was pitching.

Yet a deeper look at Flexen’s underlying numbers painted a murkier picture. He left after throwing just 72 pitches, including 47 strikes, a tally that marks his second-lowest of his 33 starts with the Mariners, behind only an eight-run outing in San Diego last May that turned his season around and helped him earn the club’s pitcher of the year award.

On Saturday, Flexen’s velocity was significantly down on all his pitches, and the spin rates on those offerings were also marginally off.

Flexen’s outing on Saturday vs. 2021 average
Four-seamer: 90.2 mph (92.8 mph) | 2,064 RPM (2,107 RPM)
Cutter: 86.8 mph (89.1 mph) | 2,225 RPM (2,299 RPM)
Changeup: 80.3 mph (82.7 mph) | 1,241 RPM (1,326 RPM)
Curveball: 72.4 mph (77.2 mph) | 2,512 RPM (2,708 RPM)

“I had zero curveball today, fastball didn't have much life, command was OK,” Flexen said. “I made some pitches at times, but I found a lot of barrels today.”

The issues to his slow start in Spring Training, when he gave up seven homers in four outings, and two regular-season starts, which now includes a 5.23 ERA, at least compared to last year, is that Flexen hasn’t had his entire arsenal working all at once. On Saturday, his curveball was absent due to a lack of feel, forcing him more into a cutter-fastball-changeup mix that made him more predictable.

Flexen’s curveball has a 12-6 drop that forces hitters to change their line of sight, compared to his other three pitches that don’t have nearly as much movement.

“It definitely helps my stuff and the way I throw the ball, especially over the top,” Flexen said. “But like I said, at the end of the day, it's about getting the job done and making pitches and I fell short of that today.”

Naturally, a correlation could be drawn between the shortened Spring Training and the lack of life within Flexen’s arsenal, but the Mariners say that he’s fully healthy and are confident he’ll bounce back.

“He just couldn't quite work [the curveball] into his repertoire tonight,” Servais said. “But you know what, Flex will be fine. I say all that, and he gives you six innings and you should be right there. We just got up against a really good pitcher tonight.”

Julio’s stellar snag

Though he’s off to a 3-for-28 start at the plate, Julio Rodríguez has chipped in with some decent defense in center field, and on Saturday, he made the catch of the year -- so far -- for Seattle.

With one out in the fifth, Rodríguez raced into left-center field, called off Jesse Winker, tracked down a line drive from Michael Brantley and completed a stellar diving snag. With a starting depth of 317 feet, Rodríguez covered 90 feet in just 4.8 seconds, dialing his sprint speed up to 29.1 feet per second, to convert the play that had just a 40% catch probability, per Statcast.

“Watching him close on the ball, and he can move,” Servais said. “He's one of the fastest guys in the league for as big as he is. He hasn't played a ton of center field. It was fun to watch him as the ball is hit; it’s slicing away from him. A tough play, but he kind of made it look easy.”