AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS VS ASTROS

October 7, 2023

Justin Verlander

Minute Maid Park

Houston Astros

Postgame 1 Press Conference

Q. You found a lot of success tonight with your off-speed stuff in those middle innings. I'm kind of curious, is it satisfying at all for you to kind of reinvent yourself and find success with different avenues of your game so to speak?

JUSTIN VERLANDER: I don't know. I guess you just adapt and do whatever you can to be successful, I think. In my career I've changed drastically multiple times. So I think, to your point, I think what feels really good is that, when you start off struggling and are able to make some adjustments and find it, and the third, fourth, and fifth obviously was able to have some things click and make some better pitches and get some easier outs.

The first few innings were not easy. So that felt great, yes.

Q. Justin, after kind of a crazy year with starting one place and being here, what does it mean for you to come here and help the Astros get a leg up in their first playoff series?

JUSTIN VERLANDER: Obviously it means a lot. It's been a whirlwind of a year, season for me. To find myself back here in Houston and pitching in the playoffs is not something I foresaw, but happy to be here, happy to help contribute, and happy to be in the playoffs.

Q. Justin, after you navigate your way through that first inning and then Jose hits the first pitch he sees over the fence, what does that do for you?

JUSTIN VERLANDER: It puts you at ease a little bit. Obviously very stressful first inning. I think everybody would prefer to go three up, three down in the first. But then to kind of like give you a little more margin for error, even though it was just one run, is a big deal.

So for him to go out and do that just kind of helps you settle in a little bit and know that my margin for error is not razor thin anymore. I can make a mistake, give up a solo homer or something, and we're still tied. So that allows me to be a little more aggressive and hopefully help find my mechanics a little bit that were lacking pretty severely in the first inning.

Q. This was your win No. 17 in postseason, just two behind the leader Andy Pettitte. Do you have any specific goal for this postseason?

JUSTIN VERLANDER: Like you're alluding to passing Andy? No. I mean, obviously if I could win another two or three more games in this postseason, that would be huge, and I would love to do that, but that's not a goal of mine, no. Not specifically.

Q. Your last start in Arizona, you thought you maybe found something in your mechanics. I was wondering if you thought that carried over to today and, if so, how.

JUSTIN VERLANDER: Well, not so great in the first couple innings, didn't really like it. But still it wasn't as bad as it looked. So I think, once things settled in a little bit, I still felt like it carried over pretty well.

Q. Justin, what did you make of the defense behind you those first couple of innings in particular?

JUSTIN VERLANDER: Great. You get the ball on the ground, we have a great defense. So you get the ball on the ground in those situations, and thankfully they were hit right at some guys, and to turn the double plays was huge.

Q. Justin, you get a front row seat to seeing Yordan Alvarez all the time. Does it seem like he kind of flips a switch a little once the postseason rolls around?

JUSTIN VERLANDER: For sure. I think a lot of guys on this team do. I think he's incredibly talented obviously, and you're going to go through peaks and valleys during the regular season, but you take a talent like that, and when he's going right and focused, you see what he's capable of.

I don't think anything is surprising anymore with him. He's just one of the best left-handed hitters that I've played with and one of the best hitters I've played with. So to me in these moments, it's not surprising to see what he's capable of.

Q. Twins led the league in home runs and have been a home run hitting team for a while now, and their offense really depends on it. I think 23 straight innings now that you've faced them without a home run. Is that a skill that -- is there a way to pitch in order to not give up home runs? And is that something on your mind when you're facing them?

JUSTIN VERLANDER: I mean, getting mis-hits is a skill, I think. Missing barrels is a skill. I'm somebody who's prone to giving up fly balls in the air, though, so I think for me I try to miss barrels, but I also try to limit the base runners.

And when there are runners on base, I think I try to stay away from -- yeah, I think I try to stay away from home runs. But with nobody on, especially given a lead, a significant lead, you're being aggressive in zone. So I would say some of that is a little bit of luck, but some of it is intentional as well.