QUEENS — Whether he was strengthening or trade value or helping the Mets mount a Wild Card push, Justin Verlander tossed an eight-inning, seven-strikeout in New York’s 5-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night at Citi Field to clinch the series win.
With a chance to sweep the Sox on Thursday afternoon, the Mets (45-50) have won nine of their last 13 games while Verlander put together his finest outing in his debut campaign in Queens.
The 40-year-old allowed a single hit through six innings of work — an Andrew Benintendi fourth-inning single — while flirting with a “Maddux,” which is a complete-game shutout in which a starter throws fewer than 100 pitches. But a Luis Robert home run in the seventh inning shattered those hopes in a laborious frame that saw him throw 30 pitches after delivering just 59 over his first six.
“Tonight, it did feel better,” Verlander said. “I had control of most of the game and also the offense did a great job early on. A big lead like that is paramount to a starting pitcher being able to go deep in the game.”
The eight innings are tied for a season-best for Verlander, who threw 76 of his 100 pitches for strikes behind a curveball that recorded four punchouts. Entering Wednesday night, that pitch had procured just 10 strikeouts all season.
“It was definitely good tonight,” Verlander said. “I was able to lean on it and get some big outs with it.”
Brett Baty gave Verlander a lead in the third inning with a solo home run that just snuck over the center-field wall against White Sox starter Touki Toussaint for his second round-tripper in as many games. It was the first time in the third baseman’s young career that he’s recorded a home run in consecutive games, bringing his total up to seven this season.
“It looks like Brett might be trending back the other way a little bit,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said of Baty, who had been 1-for-his-previous-14 before Tuesday night’s home run while making some costly mistakes in the field. “It’s something that everybody goes through, whether you’re a first-year player or 10-year player… You see how guys fight back.”
The Mets broke it open in the fourth when they hung an additional four runs on Toussaint on just two hits.
Francisco Alvarez poked a full-count single into right field to score Pete Alonso, who led the inning off with a walk. After Daniel Vogelbach’s walk loaded the bases, Baty’s fielder’s choice scored Jeff McNeil, who reached on a hit-by-pitch.
Alvarez would ultimately come around to score on a Luis Guillorme sacrifice fly before Baty came around from first with two outs on a Brandon Nimmo double.
“We capitalized on some scoring situations,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “We got a ground ball that wasn’t a double play. Just little things that were playing the game a little bit. We talk a lot about that stuff, just keep playing the game regardless of what happens.”
It was more than enough for Verlander, who continued slicing through Chicago’s lineup. After striking out a pair with his curveball on his way to a nine-pitch fifth inning, he needed just five pitches to get through the sixth — all soft contact in play — to bring his night’s total at that point to 59 pitches.
After getting Tim Anderson to ground out on just two innings to lead off the seventh, Verlander’s shutout was spoiled by Robert, who launched his 28th home run of the season on a 2-2 slider into the left-field seats. He then proceeded to walk the very next batter, Jake Burger.
In total, Verlander threw 10 pitches out of the zone in the seventh after throwing just 11 balls over the first six innings.
“He had all his pitches,” Showalter said. “He was able to drop a curveball in there against left-handers. When he felt like he could exploit something, he went with it again and was able to get to it.”
