World Series success eludes Justin Verlander; Astros lose in extra innings

HOUSTON — With the promise and opportunity of a blank slate, Justin Verlander didn't do much to dispel the notion that he struggles in the World Series. 

The veteran right-hander entered Friday night's Game 1 with a 5.68 ERA and 0-6 record in seven career World Series starts. Those seven starts came against the Cardinals in the 2006 Fall Classic, the Giants in ‘12, the Dodgers in ‘17 and the Nationals in ‘19. 

Rather than flipping the script, Verlander's lopsided outing against the ‘22 Phillies only inflated his World Series numbers.

"I need to do better," Verlander said afterward. "No excuses."

For the first three innings, it looked like Verlander was going to cruise through his first World Series start in three years. He needed just 36 pitches to retire his first nine batters, throwing three perfect innings and notching four strikeouts in that span. 

For his first 10 outs, he pitched like did in the regular season, when he produced MLB-bests in ERA (1.75) and WHIP (0.829) across 28 starts and 175 innings in his first year back from Tommy John surgery.

The 39-year-old's most dominant moment of Friday night came in the second inning with Bryce Harper leading off. In Harper's first at-bat since "the swing of his life," as broadcaster Joe Davis described the slugger's game-winning home run against the Padres in Game 5 of the ALCS, Harper was impatient and recklessly swinging away. Verlander struck Harper out on three pitches — all high fastballs — in their first meeting of the night.

Then, Astros right fielder  Kyle Tucker gave Verlander plenty of run support by homering to right field in each of his first two at-bats, the second homer a three-run shot in the third inning. 

The Astros were up, 5-0, with 18 outs to go. Really, all Verlander had to do was keep the Phillies off the board for two to three more innings before Dusty Baker could give the ball to his shutdown bullpen.

But that assignment proved to be too much and, soon, Verlander's World-Series history repeated itself. Though he started out strong, Verlander unraveled in the fourth and fifth innings and blew his five-run lead. 

"He made some mistakes with his breaking ball," Baker said. "He couldn't get the breaking ball down. That's what changed. Sometimes you change your game plan. You can't keep throwing the same guys the same way all the time. That's rare for him not to make those pitches."

The Phillies kept things simple by refusing to get discouraged and playing small ball. In Verlander's second time through the order, Rhys Hoskins, Harper, Nick Castellanos and Alec Bohm collected base hits off him, making it a 5-3 game in the fourth.

Brandon Marsh led off the fifth with a double to left and Kyle Schwarber followed with a seven-pitch walk. Then J.T. Realmuto drove them both in with a sharply hit two-run double to left field. 

That was it. The Phillies, down 5-0 to enter the fourth inning, tied the game at 5-5 by tabbing Verlander for six hits and one walk across two costly frames. They later won the game and took a 1-0 lead in the series after a 10th-inning home run by Realmuto. 

Afterward, Baker admitted it was surprising the Astros lost their first playoff game of the year when, at one point, Verlander was on the mound with a five-run lead.

It's fair to question whether Baker should've stuck with Verlander after that initial, shaky three-run fourth inning. It's also fair to question whether Verlander should've stayed on the mound after runners were on first and second with Realmuto due up in the fifth. In hindsight? He probably should've been pulled in favor of the stellar arms in Houston's bullpen.

"It's hard to take Justin out because he can struggle for a while, but he usually gets it back together," Baker said. "You certainly don't want to just go through your whole bullpen that early in the game." 

The Phillies swung at 52 of Verlander's 90 pitches, but they were also quick to put the ball in play. Philly batters made contact on 43 of Verlander's offerings, with 10 of those falling for outs and six falling for hits, including three extra-base hits. 

Manager Rob Thomson and the Phillies' game plan of attacking Verlander early and often helped lead to their five-run comeback in the fourth and fifth innings.

"Second time [through the order], you've seen it once," Thomson said of why the Phillies were able to get to Verlander. "So there's some familiarity there. I think that's why we had some success off him the second time. But I thought the at-bats were really good. We got his pitch count up pretty good. I thought his stuff was good. But we did, we had some good at-bats." 

By the time Verlander's night was over after five innings and 90 pitches, his ERA ballooned to 6.07 in eight career World Series starts. That's the worst ERA in World Series history, with a minimum of 30 innings pitched. He has yet to complete seven innings in a World Series game or record double-digit strikeouts.

Those numbers call into question Verlander's dependability in this Fall Classic against a Phillies team that, even down 5-0, showed no quit. He is, of course, still the Astros ace. But whatever haunts him in the World Series returned Friday night and for that, Verlander still has to prove that he can be effective and lead his team to victory in the most important games of the year.

"Disappointing," Verlander said of how he would describe his outing. "My team gave me a five-run lead, and I wasn't able to hold it. I feel really confident that, 99 percent of the time, I'm able to hold that lead and unfortunately, today I wasn't."

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.