Astros pitcher Justin Verlander said he “took offense” to the “over-aggressive” play of White Sox infielder Tim Anderson in the Astros’ 10-0 win on Friday night.
Anderson celebrated after singling to break up Verlander’s no-hitter in the bottom of the fifth and then took off on a 3-0 count to the next batter.
“He steals on 3-0 in a 5-0 game, that’s probably not great baseball,” Verlander told reporters after the game. “Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, I don’t know. But he celebrated that, though. And it’s like ‘Hey, I’m not worried about you right now. It’s 5-0, I’m giving a high leg kick, I know you can steal. If I don’t want you to steal, I’ll be a little bit more aware of you. But I’m trying to get this guy out at the plate.’”
Anderson slid safely into second, but it didn’t matter since the pitch was ball four. Nonetheless, Anderson continued celebrating with his team down five runs.
“Kind of celebrates that at second base again,” Verlander said. “I don’t even know what he was celebrating.”
After that, Verlander caught Anderson with a pickoff at second base. There was a rundown and while Anderson got back to the base safely, Omar Narvaez was tagged out as the trailing runner.
“Another bad baseball play, in my opinion,” Verlander said of Anderson. “Very thankful that he gave me an out. That’s what I said and he didn’t like that comment but, hey, that’s not my fault, that’s his fault. I’m not going to let the situation dictate what I do out there, I’m going to slow everything down and that’s what veterans can do — see the game, play the game, play the game the right way.”
