Alex Verdugo hit a home run and matched his highest RBI total with four, helping the New York Yankees defeat Justin Verlander and the struggling Houston Astros 10-3 on Tuesday night.
Anthony Volpe and Giancarlo Stanton also hit home runs off Verlander as the Yankees secured their fourth consecutive win. They’ve scored a total of 20 runs in the last three games, bouncing back from a stretch where they scored only eight runs in five games.
Volpe ended the game with three RBIs, while Juan Soto had three hits. “Obviously, you’re not going to have offensive performances like this every night, especially against a pitcher like Justin,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “But our lineup is capable of it. We have a good balance.”
Verdugo, batting fourth between Aaron Judge and Stanton, drove in New York’s first four runs with a three-run homer in the first inning and an RBI single in the third inning against Verlander (1-1).
“Sometimes it’s a bit humbling when you have Judge up there and then Stanton right behind me,” Verdugo said with a smile. “I feel like I’m the smaller guy in the group. But honestly, I love it. I really do. I feel like I can make enough contact to either move some guys over or get the job done.”
The game where Verdugo drove in four runs was his second of the season and fifth of his career. He also made a great sliding catch in left field to catch a low liner by Jeremy Peña at the end of the sixth inning.
“We’re seeing what kind of player he is on both offense and defense,” Boone said. “He’s been outstanding. He’s been coming through in clutch moments.”
Verlander pitched for five innings and gave up seven runs — the second-highest he’s allowed in 37 regular season and postseason games against the Yankees. The most he allowed was eight runs in Detroit’s 13-9 loss on September 1, 2008.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner allowed eight hits and walked three on Tuesday night. Verlander, who missed the first three weeks of the season due to recovering from right shoulder inflammation, has allowed 27 baserunners (17 hits, 10 walks) in his last three starts covering 16 1/3 innings.
“To be honest with myself, in the last couple of games, especially with the walks, it showed that I was a bit off,” Verlander said. “And sometimes you need to face a team that knows you well, and vice versa, to realize that you need to go back to the basics. I think the Yankees showed me today that I need to work on a few things.”
Volpe hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning. Stanton started the fifth inning with a 421-foot home run to left field that was hit at 118.8 mph off the bat. Judge and Jon Berti also had RBI singles for the Yankees.
