Justin Verlander's Bothered Admission About Wrong Move Vs. Phillies

After nearly three months of absence, Houston Astros star pitcher Justin Verlander is back in action. The future Hall of Famer appeared in his second start since getting activated from the 15-day injured list on Tuesday and looked solid on the mound in the first two innings.

In the third inning, though, Verlander got clobbered by Philadelphia’s bats. Trea Turner hit an RBI single off of Verlander. Then after allowing a single to Bryce Harper and striking out Alec Bohm, Verlander got taken deep by Nick Castellanos, whose home run drove in three runs for the Phillies.

After the game, Verlander lamented the pitch he threw at Castellanos, which was a 78 MPH curveball. Before that, Verlander caught Castellanos looking at a 93 MPH fastball.

“The selection bothers me,” Verlander said about the curveball he hurled at Castellanos, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com .

“I kind of went away from my instincts there. First pitch, I just threw him a heater that my instincts said he wasn’t on, and [I] probably could have gone back to it -- and should have gone back to it -- and didn’t. That’s the game of baseball. That’s the chess match. You’ll have to ask Nick, but I felt like he was sitting soft.”

Verlander would then pitch for two more scoreless innings before getting replaced by Tayler Scott. In five innings, Verlander allowed four earned runs on seven hits with a walk and three strikeouts. If not for that brutal third inning, Verlander probably would have come away with a win.

Then again, Houston’s offense went cold again, as the Astros failed to score a run in a 5-0 loss to Philadelphia. The Astros have generated just two runs or fewer in three of their last four games.

The Astros will try to avoid a sweep at the hands of Philly this Wednesday night.

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