The Yankees’ offensive renaissance hit a speed bump named Justin Verlander on Saturday night.
The Yankees entered the night averaging 5.8 runs over the last eight games, but they hadn’t faced a starting pitcher of much significance in that impressive stretch.
That changed against Verlander, and so did their recent offensive surge in a 6-1 loss to the Tigers at the Stadium that evened the best-of-three series at a game apiece and snapped the Yankees’ five-game winning streak.
“He’s a guy who knows how to pitch, and today he really executed pitches and we couldn’t do anything,” said right fielder Carlos Beltran, who was hitless in three at-bats and is now 1-for-16 lifetime against Verlander.
Against Verlander, who allowed one earned run on five hits in 6 ²/₃ innings pitched, the Yankees’ lineup resembled the inconsistent unit that had struggled to mount rallies and put solid at-bats together, not the one that had been explosive of late.
Of course, the Yankees had been beating up on punching bags like Mike Pelfrey and David Huff, not an elite pitcher such as Verlander. He has won four of his last five decisions and pitched into the seventh inning in seven consecutive starts.
“I thought he had better stuff than the last time I’d seen him,” third baseman Chase Headley said. “When you got better velocity, when you throw 95 instead of 91, it makes all of your other pitches better, and he was throwing all of them for strikes.”
Verlander’s previous struggles against the Yankees didn’t matter. He entered with shaky numbers against the Yankees, a 5-7 record and 4.03 ERA. He was also 0-4 at current Yankee Stadium in seven starts, with a 4.84 ERA, including an outing last year when he gave up Alex Rodriguez’s 3,000th hit. And he had poor numbers against several Yankees, including Rodriguez and Headley, both of whom entered with career batting averages of .344 or better against him.
But Verlander was dominant, getting easy outs and coasting through 6 ²/₃ innings, throwing 72 of his 106 pitches for strikes. He retired the side in order three times, struck out five and walked only one. After relying on his fastball early, he went to his curveball as the game progressed, keeping the Yankees off balance.
“I knew that there were a few starts here when I didn’t pitch well and didn’t get the win,” Verlander said, referring to his struggles in The Bronx. “So I also had a few clunkers. It was nice to pitch well today.”