A rare Aces Matchup adds ‘Extra Buzz’ to Subway Series

Nearly eight years ago, the Pittsburgh Pirates began a three-game series on the road against the Detroit Tigers with a 5-4 victory in 14 innings. In addition to being the longest game ever played at Comerica Park, at 5 hours and 30 minutes, that extra-inning slog is also the only game to feature a starting pitching game between Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander.

That’s set to change Wednesday, when two of the most dominant pitchers of the last decade take the mound facing each other as Cole’s Yankees visit Verlander’s Mets for the second of two Subway Series games at Citi Field, which began with a 7-6 Yankees win on Tuesday.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he expects the game between veteran aces to add “a little extra buzz” to the crosstown rivalry.

Cole and Verlander will always be associated during the two seasons they bullied major league hitters while anchoring the Houston Astros’ starting rotation. In 2018 and 2019, Cole’s two years with the Astros, Houston’s co-aces combined to go 72-25 with a 2.62 ERA and an outrageous 1,192 strikeouts. In 2019, they led the Astros to their second American League pennant in three seasons, though they lost the World Series to the Washington Nationals in seven games. That year, Verlander won his second AL Cy Young Award and Cole came in second.

The heights they would eventually reach as teammates were far from guaranteed when they faced each other in 2015. At the time, Cole was a 24-year-old former No. 1 overall draft pick compiling his first All-Star season. Verlander was 32 and coming off the worst year of his career. The start against the Pirates was his third of the season, after a back injury sidelined him for the first two and a half months and forced him to miss his previously scheduled start.

That night, they each pitched in the seventh inning and gave up two earned runs: solid, but hardly remarkable in a game that ended up not being halfway. But their matchup wasn’t lacking in drama. With two outs in the top of the fourth, and his team trailing 3-0, Verlander hit then Pirates left fielder (and his current Mets teammate) Starling Marte with a pitch. Then, with one out and no one in the bottom of the fourth inning, Cole bounced with his first pitch and hit Tigers designer Victor Martinez.

Of course, Verlander’s first pitch in the fifth sacked Pirates first baseman Pedro Alvarez.

“Yeah, everyone knows that,” Martinez said at the time when asked if he thought Cole had deliberately hit him. “I mean, I have no respect for anyone on that team, including Cole and their coaching staff. If they think Verlander hit Marte with a 1-2 strike – he fought in that at bat – if they really think we did it on purpose, then they’re playing the wrong sport.”

In response to Martinez, Cole said, “That’s his opinion, man,” adding that he didn’t know if Verlander hit Marte intentionally.

If there was any bad blood between Cole and Verlander, it was long gone by the time the Pirates traded Cole to Houston in January 2018. Brent Strom, the Astros’ pitching coach at the time and now holding the same role with the Diamondbacks, convinced Cole to ditch the two-seamer he had pitched low in the zone with Pittsburgh for a high four-seamer, which would be more difficult for hitters to catch up. Just a few months earlier, Verlander had made a similar change to his armory after being sent to Houston from Detroit. Verlander’s successful adaptation was all the proof Cole needed to do the same.

“Justin was like, ‘I think sometimes you can try to locate too much and you just shouldn’t throw to a general area, but if you attack the zone to a quadrant you’ll probably get at least a foul ball, and that’s a good pressure field,” Cole told Sports Illustrated in 2019.

Their bond only grew and the pitchers became catching partners during their time together in Houston.

Following the 2019 World Series, Cole signed with the Yankees for nine years and $324 million—the largest contract ever awarded to a pitcher—and the superstars went from teammates to rivals. Verlander was under contract for two more seasons, although he only made one start during that period. He strained his right forearm during Houston’s 2020 season opener and was later diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament. He underwent Tommy John surgery in late September of that year, missed all of 2021, then became a free agent beginning what would become his 39-year season. The Astros signed him to a two-year, $50 million deal, with an opt-out after the first season.

The deal turned out to be a bargain for Houston. Verlander went 18-4 with a career-best 1.75 ERA en route to winning his third AL Cy Young Award and second World Series title. He canceled his contract and signed with the Mets for two years and $86.667 million.

When Cole and Verlander head up the hill on Wednesday, they find themselves in situations similar to when they first got together. Cole, who is 7-1 with a 2.84 ERA, looks on his way to another All-Star selection and is one of the early favorites to win the AL’s Cy Young Award. And just like in 2015, Verlander missed the start of this season with an injury and has yet to find his feet.

Verlander, 40, has alternated between strong starts and clunkers. In three of his seven appearances, he has played at least six innings and allowed one run, but his overall numbers (2-3, 4.85 ERA) are hardly what the Mets expected when they signed him. However, if the recent pattern holds, the Mets could be in for a good night. Verlander pitched three innings and allowed five runs (four earned) his final timeout against the Atlanta Braves.

Anyway, the Yankees know how hard it is to hit Verlander. Over his last six starts against them, Verlander is 3-1 with a 3.18 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 39⅔ innings. The same goes for Mets batters facing Cole, even though his results (2-2, 6.75 ERA) are mixed against them. He faced the Mets only once since joining the Yankees, and during that 2021 appearance, he lasted three and a third innings and gave up four runs.

Regardless of any recent results, expectations will be high for the matchup.

“In Justin’s case, you know, already on his way to the Hall of Fame, and Gerrit is a guy I think is in the middle of a Hall of Fame career,” Boone said. “So I’m sure that will add a little extra to it.”