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This Day In Sports…September 1, 2019:
Justin Verlander joins the “three no-hitters” club in the Houston Astros’ 2-0 win at Toronto. The 36-year-old veteran struck out 14 Blue Jays and issued just one walk. It was the first time a hurler had no-hit the same team in its home stadium twice. Verlander became just the fifth pitcher in modern major league history to throw three no-hitters, joining Nolan Ryan (seven), Sandy Koufax (four), and Bob Feller and Cy Young, who both also threw three. Verlander’s other no-hitters came for Detroit in 2007 and 2011.
Four weeks later, Verlander completed a “trifecta of milestone threes”—in the same game. In a 6-3 win over the L.A. Angels, he recorded the 3.000th strikeout of his career and his 300th strikeout of the season. The Angels’ Kole Calhoun was the victim each time. Verlander got Calhoun in the fourth inning for No. 3,000 and again in the sixth for No. 300. He became only the third pitcher in the modern era to strike out 300 batters in a season at age 36 or older, joining Ryan and Randy Johnson.
Verlander would go on to win the 2019 American League Cy Young Award. It was one of his three Cy Youngs—the others came in 2011 with the Detroit Tigers (when he was also AL MVP) and in 2022 with the Astros, who he led to a second World Series title. Verlander began his career with the Tigers in 2006 and was AL Rookie of the Year, and he has become the best pitcher of his generation. Verlander has 266 career victories, and it’s unlikely that any player will approach that number again.
The question down the stretch this season: will Verlander pitch one more time before he hangs it up? The future Hall of Famer, back with the Tigers, has declared this to be his final year, but he’s been on the injured list since April 4. Verlander managed only one start before hip and hamstring injuries derailed him. He recently threw off a mound, and the Tigers remain hopeful he can make at least one more appearance before the end of his legendary career, Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said last Friday.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
