HOUSTON — Benches cleared and Twins and Astros players glowered at one another Tuesday night after Jose Altuve was hit by a pitch, but mostly everyone kept the tempers in check.
Rocco Baldelli, on the other hand, became the angriest man in Minute Maid Park when the ramifications of that brawl-that-wasn't became clear.
The Astros handed Minnesota its fourth consecutive loss, 4-2, a wild game that included several loud and sincere ovations for former Astro Carlos Correa, Justin Verlander's six innings of near-perfect pitching, a benches-clearing argument, Baldelli's ejection for debating the definition of a mound visit, a line drive off Cole Sands' pitching hand, and yet another malady to a Twins center fielder.
And if Verlander hadn't departed after six hitless innings, those story lines might have been overshadowed by another historic moment by the future Hall of Famer.
Verlander, who took a no-hitter into the eighth inning at Target Field in May before Gio Urshela, this time got through six innings, striking out 10 Twins, without a hit. But he was lifted rather than being allowed to complete his fourth career no-hitter, and Correa, in his first day back at his longtime baseball home, immediately lined a single to center field off reliever Ryan Stanek, denying the Astros their second combined no-hitter of 2022.
Verlander's 22nd career victory over the Twins was interrupted by the histrionics in the fifth inning, when Twins starter Aaron Sanchez, a former Astro, threw a sinker way inside to Altuve. The Astros All-Star stared at Sanchez and took his time heading for first base when umpire Rob Drake ruled the pitch had clipped him, and both Altuve and Sanchez gestured at each other, seemingly challenging each other, as Altuve jogged up the line.
Players hopped out of the dugouts in case anyone took further action, and both managers rushed out to act as peacemakers, eventually settling things without a fight breaking out. Baldelli stood on the mound trying to calm Sanchez, apparently with good reason; the righthander proceeded to throw four pitches badly out of the strike zone to Yuli Gurriel, walking him.
Baldelli sent pitching coach Pete Maki to the mound, but once he got there, Drake ruled that it was the second mound visit of the inning, and that Sanchez must be lifted. The manager rushed out to object, and as the conversation grew heated, crew chief Todd Tichenor ejected Baldelli, his second so far in August.
Cole Sands was summoned to replace Sanchez, and he escaped any runs scoring when Correa turned Kyle Tucker's bases-loaded ground ball into a slick home-to-first double play.
Sands, though, had to leave the game himself two innings later, when Gurriel lined a pitch off his pitching hand. Trevor Megill relieved and gave up a two-run homer into the Crawford boxes in left field to Alex Bregman. And the Twins also lost Nick Gordon when the center fielder reported feeling dizziness during a fifth-inning at-bat.
Plenty of the Twins looked a little dizzy trying to hit off Verlander, MLB's ERA leader and a strong favorite to win his third AL Cy Young Award. Verlander struck out seven Twins during his first time through the lineup, passing Pedro Martinez for 14th on the all-time strikeout list, though Gordon reached first base when the curveball he swung at and missed bounced past catcher Martin Maldonado.
Then he struck out three more his second time through, passing his former teammate Max Scherzer for 13th-most strikeouts in history. But Verlander was pulled after six, and the Twins eventually collected six hits against Houston's bullpen, with Jose Miranda and Max Kepler delivering ninth-inning RBI singles to make the noisy crowd tense before Bryan Abreu struck out Jake Cave with the bases loaded to end the game.
The Twins have scored only eight runs in their past five games, and have been outscored by the Astros 25-5 in their four meetings this season, all Astros victories.
