Tag Archives: Justin Verlander

Astros’ Ronel Blanco Throws First No-Hitter in Major League Baseball This Season

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Ronel Blanco has secured a special first…

The 30-year-old Dominican professional baseball pitcher, who made his first Opening Day roster, has thrown the first no-hitter in Major League Baseball this season.

Ronel Blanco Blanco struck out seven and walked two in the Houston Astros‘ 10-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night. Blanco, who didn’t play in the MLB until he was 28, was making just his eighth career start. He wouldn’t even be in Houston’s rotation if not for injuries to Justin Verlander and Jose Urquidy.

“It’s been a very long road traveled for me,” he said in Spanish through an interpreter. “A lot of ups, a lot of downs, a lot of falls, a lot of me getting back up. But I think all of that has been worth it for me to be able to get to this moment.”

He walked George Springer to start the game and again with two outs in the ninth.

When Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded out to end it, Blanco smiled broadly before raising his arms above his head just before being mobbed by teammates.

“I see it as a great blessing, a great blessing for me and my family,” he said. “With the arrival of my daughter I see it as a life-changing experience, and I dedicate this to my family and my daughter.”

It was the 17th no-hitter in Astros history and the first in the majors since Philadelphia’s Michael Lorenzen threw one against the Washington Nationals on Aug. 9 of last year.

Houston’s previous no-hitter came about a week before that one when Framber Valdez did it in a 2-0 win over Cleveland on August 1.

Kyle Tucker and Yainer Diaz each homered twice as the Astros won their first game of the season after losing four to the Yankees. Houston’s Joe Espada became the first manager in major league history to get his first win in a no-hitter.

“I couldn’t be any happier for the way today turned out,” Espada said.

The Astros are the fourth team in MLB history to get their first win of the season in a no-hitter, and the first since Boston’s Hideo Nomo pitched one against the Orioles in 2001. Nomo’s no-hitter that year came on April 4. That was the record for the earliest no-hitter by calendar date, according to Sportradar, but Blanco’s gem broke the mark by three days.

Blanco threw 105 pitches, averaging 93.6 mph with 31 fastballs and also throwing 36 changeups, 34 sliders and four curveballs.

Espada said the changeup was the key to Blanco’s success Monday.

“It makes the fastball and the slider that much better,” he said. “The way it comes out of the hand, it looks just like his fastball and hitters are committed to potentially swinging at a fastball and the ball just kind of falls in the zone. It’s a pitch that he’s worked really hard on and it paid big dividends tonight.”

Toronto manager John Schneider agreed.

“Really good changeup, it was almost like a split, slider combo,” he said. “Give him credit — that’s really hard to do. I know he hasn’t been starting much, but he was really good and his changeup was outstanding.”

Luis Severino Agrees to One-Year, $13 Million Contract with New York Mets

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Luis Severino isn’t leaving the Big Apple…

The 29-year-old Dominican professional baseball pitcher has agreed to a one-year, $13 million contract with the New York Mets, according to ESPN, sending the longtime New York Yankees player to a Mets team that plans to spend its winter upgrading a depleted rotation.

Luis Severino,Severino had spent all of his eight-year career with the Yankees, including a rough 2023 in which he posted a 6.65 ERA over 89⅓ innings. Still, the free agent market has set the price of veteran starting pitchers at $10 million-plus a year — and Severino’s past success bought him slightly more.

Over his first seven seasons with the Yankees, Severino was highly effective when healthy. He threw 638 innings with a 3.39 ERA and 709 strikeouts against 181 walks. In his two full seasons, 2017 and 2018, he was one of the best pitchers in baseball, finishing third and ninth in Cy Young Award voting and throwing at least 190 innings each year.

Shoulder and lat injuries limited Severino to three starts in 2019, and he missed the 2020 season and most of 2021 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He returned strong in 2022 with a 3.18 ERA over 19 starts and 102 innings.

The deal, which is pending a physical Thursday, includes $2 million in performance bonuses and allows Severino to reach free agency after the season. It’s the first move of many to rebuild a Mets rotation that lost Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer to trades in July and, beyond Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana, has serious questions.

The Mets will be a strong bidder for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the 25-year-old right-hander from Japan, whose deal is expected to be the second-highest of the winter.

They could also pursue left-hander Jordan Montgomery, who will get well in excess of $100 million guaranteed. The Mets have been on the periphery of the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes as well.

Joe Espada to Reportedly Become New Manager of the Houston Astros

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Joe Espada is about to make an astronomical rise…

The 48-year-old Puerto Rican professional baseball coach and former Minor League Baseball player will reportedly serve as the Houston Astros’ new manager following Dusty Baker’s retirement.

Joe Espada,The team is turning to their longtime bench coach as they look to continue a record-setting run of seven consecutive American League Championship Series appearances, according to ESPN. An official announcement is expected Monday.

Espada has been on the Astros’ bench since 2018, a year after Houston won a World Series title that has since been tainted by the revelation of a sign-stealing scandal.

Espada had previously been a coach with the New York Yankees, and prior to that he had coached with the Miami Marlins following a nine-year playing career in the minor and independent leagues.

Espada remained with Houston after the firing of manager A.J. Hinch in the wake of the sign-stealing allegations and served as a vital member of the staff as it transitioned to Baker taking over.

Baker, who managed the Astros to the World Series title in 2022, retired following Houston’s loss to eventual champion Texas Rangers in the ALCS this season.

The Astros will return the core of their team that won the AL West this year. Left fielder Yordan Álvarez, second baseman Jose Altuve, right fielder Kyle Tucker, third baseman Alex Bregman and starters Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier are all under contract for next year, though Altuve, Bregman and Verlander all are set to hit free agency after the 2024 season.

The news of Espada’s hiring, first reported by USA Today, will go over well in the clubhouse, where he’s well liked. Espada is seen by players as a well-rounded coach whose leadership skills helped fill a gap with Baker.

José Altuve Belts Three-Run Home Run to Give Houston Astros a 3-2 Lead in American League Championship Series

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José Altuve has helped the Houston Astros inch one step closer to the team’s third straight World Series appearance…

The 33-year-old Venezuelan professional baseball player’s dramatic three-run home run delivered Houston a stunning 5-4 win over the Texas Rangers on Friday night at Globe Life Field.

José Altuve,The Astros trailed the Rangers by two runs in the top of the ninth. Adolis García had just given the Rangers the lead with a thunderous three-run blast. Benches and bullpens had also just emptied after Bryan Abreu hit García with a pitch. But the indescribably talented Altuve, who never seems to stop producing big moments, pulled off the three-run home run to give the Astros their third-straight win against the Rangers.

The Astros have officially clawed their way back from an 0-2 series deficit to a 3-2 American League Championship Series (ALCS) lead.

Altuve has played in 101 playoff games. He’s homered in 24 of those games (and 26 times total). He’s been on the field, playing second base, for two World Series final outs that gave the Astros their first and second championships. Despite all his postseason mileage, and against all of his magical – sometimes even controversial – October moments, a new personal favorite rose to the top of Altuve’s list: Game 5 of the 2023 American League Championship Series.

With two runners on and no outs against Rangers closer José Leclerc, Altuve parked a three-run home run just above the outstretched arm of Evan Carter in left field. Altuve’s teammates spilled onto the field, some jumping over the dugout railing, others wildly waving their arms and completely losing their minds. Alex Bregman said he lost his voice by screaming so much. Nobody could explain why or how the longest-tenured Astro can, time and again, meet the moment.

“You don’t use the word ‘expect,’ but you anticipate something great happening,” Justin Verlander said of Altuve. “And more often than not, he just seems to deliver.”

The Astros are now one win away from their third consecutive appearance in the Fall Classic.

The Astros have struggled to win at home all year, and the Rangers will have surging right-hander Nathan Eovaldi going Sunday in Game 6 against struggling lefty Framber Valdez (FS1, 8:03 p.m. ET).

Houston now has two chances to win at Minute Maid Park, but if the past five games have taught us anything, it’s that this is still anyone’s series.

Jasson Domínguez Becomes Youngest New York Yankees Player to Homer in MLB Debut

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Jasson Domínguez is celebrating a smashing Major League Baseball debut…

The 20-year-old Dominican baseball player and New York Yankees player wowed everyone on Friday night, hitting a two-run homer off Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander in his first major league at-bat.

Jasson DominguezAt just 20 years, 206 days old, Domínguez became the youngest Yankees player to homer in his first game. He was the first Yankees player to go deep in his initial big league at-bat since Aaron Judge on Aug. 13, 2016.

Additionally, it was just the second time a player homered off a reigning Cy Young Award winner in his first at-bat, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The other was Marcus Thames — also for the Yankees — on June 10, 2002, off Randy Johnson.

After Domínguez swatted his opposite-field home run to the short porch in left off a three-time Cy Young Award winner twice his age, TV cameras panned to his family, who screamed and jumped around after watching the ball leave the yard for a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

Four years after Yankees manager Aaron Boone saw him taking batting practice as a teenager, the highly touted prospect was a huge hit in his big league debut.

The switch-hitting outfielder and another promising youngster, catcher Austin Wells, were called up from the minors by the last-place Yankees when rosters expanded Friday.

“Everyone’s excited for them and excited to see them,” Boone said before the game. “Both [are] talented guys who earned this opportunity, and looking forward to watching them go spread their wings and continue to develop and hopefully see some good things.”

Domínguez is expected to be the team’s everyday center fielder after Harrison Bader was claimed off waivers by the Cincinnati Reds, and Boone said Wells will also play a lot over the last month of the season. They were both in the starting lineup Friday night, with Domínguez batting fifth and Wells seventh.

“When I heard the news, it was a special moment,” Domínguez said in Spanish through a translator. “Just to be here, very excited. Happy to be right here today, and it’s a special day.”

Wells is regarded more for his bat than his defense, but he’s hoping to show he can be a valuable contributor in both areas in the majors.

“I’m here to do that as well and play and help the team win,” he said. “So, that’s my goal and if I can do it in any way, I’ll do it any way.”

Expectations have been high for Domínguez since he received a $5.1 million bonus when he signed with the Yankees. His unique combination of strength and speed at such a young age earned him a catchy nickname: The Martian.

But he said he doesn’t feel any added pressure because of that.

“I haven’t really been paying too much attention to all that, all the comments and all the information about me,” he said. “I’m not much on social media. I’m not reading a lot of the different articles that are written. I just try to focus on what I can do and try to play my game and better myself so that I can fulfill whatever expectation there is being the best I can be.”

Domínguez was set to become the youngest player to appear in a game for the Yankees since 19-year-old pitcher José Rijo in July 1984 — and the youngest position player since 20-year-old outfielder Stan Javier in April 1984.

Boone is certainly aware of the expectations people have for Domínguez and believes he’ll live up to them.

“I think he’s going to be a really good player,” Boone said. “I really do. [He’s] not a finished product. And we’ll see how his journey goes. He’s obviously a very young man, super talented. I think when we look up in several years, we’re going to see a really good player in front of us and he gets to start to write that script, in the big leagues anyway, starting today.”

Domínguez joins the team after playing just nine games at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season. He hit .419 with two doubles and 10 RBIs there after batting .254 with 15 homers and 66 RBIs in 109 games for Double-A Somerset.

José Abreu Agrees to Three-Year Contract with Houston Astros

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José Abreu is celebrating an Astros-nominical deal…

The 35-year-old Cuban professional baseball player, who plays first base, and the Houston Astros have agreed to a three-year contract, according to ESPN.

José AbreuAbreu will add another run-producing bat to the World Series champions’ lineup that’s already filled with them.

Abreu, who turns 36 in January, won the American League MVP award in 2020 and is second in baseball with 863 RBIs since his first season in the major leagues, 2014. He hit .304/.378/.446 this year with the Chicago White Sox, for whom he had played all nine of his big league seasons after defecting from Cuba.

Following a dreadful first five weeks, Abreu was one of the best hitters in baseball over the final three-quarters of the season, batting .335/.405/.479, though his 15 home runs over the entire year were a career low.

He joins an Astros lineup with fellow Cuban Yordan Álvarez, Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman and World Series MVP Jeremy Peña.

Abreu will replace Yuli Gurriel, a longtime rival in the Cuban National Series.

Abreu and Gurriel, along with Yoenis Cespedes, were widely regarded as the best players of their generation from Cuba, both high-contact hitters — though Abreu’s power was the separator.

The White Sox extended him for three years and $50 million after 2019, when he led the AL with 123 RBIs. Over his nine seasons, Abreu hit .292/.354/.506 with 243 home runs and an adjusted OPS 34% better than league average.

He’s the second signing for this winter for the Astros, who reupped reliever Rafael Montero on a three-year, $34.5 million contract. The Astros’ projected payroll is currently in the $175 million range — they’ve exceeded $187 million each of the previous five seasons — and they still hope to sign ace Justin Verlander, who could command upward of $40 million a year.

Albert Pujols Named National League’s ‘Comeback Player of the Year’

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Albert Pujols is this year’s Comeback King…

The 42-year-old Dominican slugger for the St. Louis Cardinals has won the National League’s Comeback Player of the Year award.

Albert PujolsPujols came back to St. Louis for his farewell season and posted his biggest numbers in years at the age of 42. The three-time MLB MVP compiled an .895 OPS for the NL Central champions and became the fourth Major League Baseball player to reach 700 career home runs.

Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander was the American League recipient.

The winners were chosen in voting by the 30 team beat reporters at MLB.com.

Pujols batted .270 with 24 homers and 68 RBIs in 109 games for the Cardinals after getting released by the Los Angeles Angels in May 2021 and finishing last year with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

His OPS was his highest since his last season with the Cardinals in 2011 (.906) before joining the Angels, and his home runs were his most since hitting 31 in 2016 for the Angels.

The 11-time MLB All-Star hit 18 home runs in the second half and retired after the Cardinals were eliminated from the playoffs by Philadelphia in the wild-card round.

He finished his career fourth in major league annals in home runs (703), second in RBIs (2,218) and total bases (6,211) and ninth in hits (3,384).

Sandy Alcantara Sweeps All First-Place Votes to Win National League Cy Young Award

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It’s a clean sweep for Sandy Alcantara…

The 27-year-old Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the Miami Marlins has become the first unanimous Cy Young Award winner in the National League since Clayton Kershaw in 2014.

Sandy Alcantara Alcantara, a right-hander, swept all 30 first-place votes to beat out Atlanta Braves lefty Max Fried and Los Angeles Dodgers southpaw Julio Urias to become the first Cy Young winner in Marlins history.

With Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander also winning the AL Cy Young by unanimous vote, this marks just the second time that both Cy Young winners were unanimous. Bob Gibson and Denny McLain also won unanimously in 1968, one year after the award started to be given out to both leagues.

In this age of five-inning starters, Alcantara stood out like a unicorn: He pitched 228⅔ innings, 23⅔ more than other pitcher in the majors, and the most innings since David Price threw 230 in 2016. He threw six complete games — more than any other team. He pitched at least eight innings in 14 of his 32 starts, the most such games since 2014. His 8.0 WAR easily topped Aaron Nola’s 6.0 as the best in the NL and ranked as the best in Marlins history, ahead of Kevin Brown‘s 7.9 in 1996.

“I’m very happy with the type of season I was able to have this season,” Alcantara said in a video released when he won the Players Choice Award as the outstanding NL pitcher. “It’s like I’ve always told the media: My mentality is to be a lion on the mound, finish all my starts.”

Here’s another way to view Alcantara’s award: He had 16 starts of more than seven innings when you add in his two 7⅔-inning outings. Fried and Urias combined for just two outings of more than seven innings. It wasn’t just his ability to pitch deep into games that made Alcantara the Cy Young winner, however. His 2.28 ERA ranked second in the NL behind Urias’ 2.16, and he held batters to a .212 average with some of the most electric stuff in the majors.

“He’s throwing 100-plus mph and he’s got movement on that fastball,” St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt said.

Indeed, Alcantara averaged just under 98 mph with his fastball (he throws both a four-seamer and sinker), but his game plan is a little different from a lot of modern pitchers. He induces a lot of soft contact rather than just racking up strikeouts — and thus avoids the high pitch counts that result from a lot of deep counts. As a result, he led all starters in averaging just 14.2 pitches per inning, allowing him to go deep into games. He still managed 207 strikeouts, including a season-high 14 in an eight-inning win over the Braves on May 28. “Sometimes with Sandy it looks like pitch and catch,” then-Marlins manager Don Mattingly said after that dominating victory.

Originally signed by the Cardinals out of the Dominican Republic, the Marlins acquired Alcantara after the 2017 season in a trade that sent Marcell Ozuna to St. Louis. Alcantara made the MLB All-Star team in 2019, his first full season in the majors, when he finished with a 3.88 ERA, and then had a big breakout in 2021, when he went 9-15 with a 3.19 ERA in 205 innings.

An improved changeup took him to another level this season, as batters hit just .145 against it with no home runs in 248 at-bats. It’s a power change that averaged 91.8 mph — yes, a 92 mph changeup. According to Statcast metrics, his changeup saved 25 runs, the most valuable changeup in the game in 2022.

Maybe the highlight of Alcantara’s season wasn’t one of his seven scoreless outings, but a 4-3 victory over the Cardinals on June 29. Leading 4-3 with runners at first and second and one out in the ninth and Alcantara at 115 pitches, Mattingly came out to apparently remove him from the game. Alcantara talked himself into staying in and two pitches later induced to a double play to end it.

“When he came to me, I said, ‘I got it. I got it.’ I think he has too much confidence in me to finish the game,” Alcantara said after that win. “I don’t have to worry when I have men on base. I know I can throw a strike and get a double play.”

“He said he had it, and he did,” Mattingly said. “I wasn’t going to promise him two hitters, but I gave him that one. He’s pretty special.”

Special enough that the extension the Marlins signed him to last November that runs through 2027 now looks like a bargain. With the Marlins now having a Cy Young winner, the only franchises without one are the Texas Rangers and Colorado Rockies.

Giancarlo Stanton Helps Lead New York Yankees Past Cleveland Guardians to Continue Playoff Run

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Giancarlo Stanton helps propel the New York Yankees to the next round…

The 32-year-old part-Puerto Rican professional baseball designated hitter put the first runs on the scoreboard in the first inning in the deciding game between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday.

Giancarlo StantonStanton hit a line-drive home run on an 87.5 mph cutter from Cleveland starter Aaron Civale over the right field wall, scoring Gleyber Torres and Anthony Rizzo and putting the Yankees on top 3-0. Civale lasted one more batter, throwing just 26 pitches and recording a single out before Guardians manager Terry Francona gave him the hook.

In the end, the Yankees punched a ticket to the American League Championship Series with a 5-1 victory over Guardians.

The Game 5 victory capped a back-and-forth series in which the Yankees faced elimination in Game 4 in Cleveland and rain delayed multiple contests.

New York now faces off against the Houston Astros in a best-of-seven series that starts in Houston on Wednesday when Justin Verlander and Jameson Taillon go head-to-head in Game 1. During the regular season, the Astros and Yankees finished with the two best records in the American League, respectively, while Houston took five of seven games against New York.

The Yankees and Astros face off in Houston in Game 1 of the ALCS on Wednesday starting at 7:37 p.m. ET.

Yordan Alvarez Smashes Game-Ending, Three-Run Homer to Lead Houston Astros to Game 1 Win vs. the Seattle Mariners

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It’s a smashing moment for Yordan Alvarez. 

The 25-year-old Cuban professional baseball designated hitter and left fielder for the Houston Astros smashed a game-ending, three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning off Robbie Ray, wrecking the Seattle Mariners‘ strategy of using a Cy Young Award winner in a rare relief role and vaulting the Astros to an 8-7 victory on Tuesday in their playoff opener.

Yordan AlvarezTrailing all game after a poor start by Justin Verlander, the AL West champion Astros overtook rookie star Julio Rodriguez and the wildcard Mariners at the end to begin their best-of-five division series.

Houston was down 7-5 when rookie pinch-hitter David Hensley reached with one out in the ninth as Seattle closer Paul Sewald grazed his jersey with a pitch.

Sewald struck out Jose Altuve before Jeremy Pena laced a single to center field to chase Sewald.

Mariners manager Scott Servais then made the bold move to bring in Ray, who started Saturday at Toronto in the AL Wild Card Series, for a lefty vs. lefty matchup with Alvarez. Ray, who won the Cy Young last year with Toronto, had made only six relief appearances in his career and had never earned a pro save.

Alvarez, who hit 37 homers in the regular season, sent Ray’s second pitch deep into the seats in right field to set off a wild celebration with his parents in the stands.

“I think it’s one of the most special moments that I’ve had in my career,” Alvarez said. “Having them there and just for the city of Houston they know that we’re a team that never gives up, so just being able to get that hit there was one of the most special moments in his career.”

His blast was the second walk-off home run in postseason history by a team down to its final out, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. The other was Kirk Gibson‘s walk-off home run off Dennis Eckersley to lift the Los Angeles Dodgers to a Game 1 victory over the Oakland Athletics in the 1988 World Series.

The home run had an exit velocity of 116.7 mph, the fourth-fastest of the 546 walk-off home runs in the Statcast era and the highest ever in the postseason.

Servais said the decision to use Ray was something they had thought about.

“It was something going into the series where we were at, looking at our rotation, where we were going to head, and talking with Robbie about using him out of the bullpen as a bullet, so to speak, for that type of scenario,” he said. “You know, bringing in a lefty against Alvarez, although Alvarez is one of the better hitters in the league.

“But we talked about it coming into the series. We talked about it pregame today. I looked at it in the seventh inning and said, ‘Hey, this could happen.’ So that was the plan going in.”

Houston skipper Dusty Baker, who managed Servais while with the San Francisco Giants, refused to second-guess his former player.

“If he gets him out, then it looks great … next time Robbie Ray could win, but today we won,” Baker said.

The Mariners jumped on Verlander for six runs in just four innings to build a 6-2 lead early. Yuli Gurriel hit a solo homer in the Houston fourth before Eugenio Suarez‘s solo shot in the seventh extended Seattle’s lead to 7-3.

A two-run homer by Alex Bregman off Andres Munoz cut the lead to 7-5 in the eighth inning to set up the dramatic finish.