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The day has finally arrived. After waiting for 3+ months, baseball is finally here and the Astros got the 2020 season started off right.
Justin Verlander made his third straight Opening Day start for the Astros as he took the mound again to start 2020. Verlander looked like his typical self, racking up 7 strikeouts in 6 innings of work while flashing 97 MPH with his fastball. The only poor mark on his line was two solo HRs he allowed, but like last year, he limited the baserunners so the homers didn’t hurt him much.
The Astros offense started a bit slow but Martin Maldanado put the first run on the board in the 3rd, driving in Josh Reddick who doubled two batters early. After falling behind 2-1, the top of the Astros lineup did some damage in the 5th when Altuve and Bregman had back to back RBI singles to make it 3-2.
Michael Brantley had the big blow as he blew the game open with a towring 3-run shot in the 5th inning, and it was beautiful......
Michael Brantley - Houston Astros (1) 3-run
— MLB Home Runs (@HomeRunVideos) July 25, 2020
Distance: 389 ft
Exit Velocity: 98.4 mph
Launch Angle: 32°pic.twitter.com/dVyrpUxIhS
The Astros played add on a little bit with another Maldonado RBI single in the 6th, making it 7-2. After Verlander’s 6 strong innings, he was relieved by Chris Devenski who tossed a scoreless 7th as he struck out the side.
Correa added to the Astros run total with an RBI double in the 7th inning to make it 8-2. Blake Taylor, who was acquired in the Marisnick trade, made his major league debut tossing a scoreless 8th inning. Enoli Paredes, also making his major league debut, had a solid 9th inning allowing just an infield hit as he closed out the game for the Astros win.
1-0.