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Ever since the late summer trade to Houston, ex-Tiger Justin Verlander has been nothing but spectacular. He won every contest for the Astros in the regular season.
Then in the first outing against the Yankees in this playoff series last Saturday, he struck out 13 and pitched nine innings of one-run ball to lead the the team to a 2-1 victory.
On Friday night, with the the Yanks ahead in the series 3-2, Verlander did his Detroit and Houston fans proud, pitching 7 innings of shutout ball to keep the Astro's dreams alive.
Jake Kaplan writes in the Houston Chronicle:
Although he didn't go the distance like in Game 2, Verlander dominated the New York Yankees over seven scoreless innings to save the Astros' season for at least another day. Their beleaguered lineup mustered enough offense to fuel a 7-1 victory and set the stage for a Game 7 that will decide which team advances to play the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.
Verlander extended his scoreless streak in postseason elimination games to 24 innings. Center fielder George Springer saved him at least a run with a leaping catch in front of the center field wall with two runners on base that robbed Todd Frazier of extra bases.
Game 7 is Saturday at 8:08 p.m. in Houston.
