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ARLINGTON, Texas — As arguably the two best right-handed pitchers of their generation, the relationship between the Texas RangersMax Scherzer and the Houston AstrosJustin Verlander has taken many forms.

It also has evolved from some early career friction as young teammates with the Detroit Tigers, mostly thanks to their brief time as teammates with the New York Mets.

“Looking at each other now through a different lens,” Verlander said, “it’s two guys who, we do go about things differently, but there’s more than one way to be successful. I can’t speak for Max, but for myself, this time around, I think we had good conversations about the way he sees things, the way I see things and how that can be beneficial.”

In Detroit, the two future Hall of Famers were in competition with each other as well as opponents. They’ve also been on teams that competed against each other for playoff spots and championships. In New York, they were teammates again, but older and wiser.

On Wednesday, the relationship will take a form it never has before: opposing pitchers on the mound.

Hard as it is to believe, Scherzer and Verlander will go head-to-head for the first time in their careers when the Rangers and Astros play at Globe Life Field on Wednesday in the finale of a key three-game series.

“That’ll be fun,” Scherzer said. “First time facing him. My whole career, I’ve got to face all the best guys in the world and I’ve got to play with all the best guys in the world. So I got to play with [Verlander] for a while. Now it’s going to be fun to actually go up against him.”

The matchup would be compelling in any context, but there are extra layers. When the Mets’ season fizzled, New York dealt both pitchers at the trade deadline, sending them to cross-state rivals in the midst of a heated divisional and wild-card playoff race.

While their time together in New York was short, Verlander said it allowed their relationship to grow.

“A lot has been talked about our past,” Verlander said. “I think it was a bit blown out of proportion. But you know, there was some tension there. And I think we both decided to make an effort coming in to just move past that.”

Scherzer went 9-4 with a 4.01 ERA for the Mets; Verlander was 6-5 with a 3.15 ERA for New York before going back to the Astros, with whom he won a World Series last season.

“It was good to get back with him,” Scherzer said. “He’s obviously one of the great competitors of our time, so it was good to be back with him and really get a download of how he is as a pitcher, and how he’s evolved.

“The game has changed over the seven or eight years we were apart. It was good to get back with him and get inside his pitching mind and how he attacks hitters.”

The Rangers and Astros are locked in a three-way battle with the Seattle Mariners for supremacy in the AL West, with those clubs also battling the Toronto Blue Jays in the wild-card chase.

Yet even the pitchers’ future Hall of Fame managers can’t help but marvel at what they might see Wednesday.

“I’ve said this many times,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “I’ve got a great seat to watch some really great players play. To see matchups like this, I enjoy it, to see guys who have had tremendous careers like they’ve had and how competitive they are.”

In addition to managing Verlander with the Astros, Houston’s Dusty Baker was Scherzer’s skipper with the Washington Nationals for two seasons.

“[It’s a challenge] to continue to manage and not become a spectator,” Baker said. “They’re different but they’re similar in their determination and their competitiveness.”

You can’t blame the managers for being a little excited. The two aces rank in the top three of all major career categories among active pitchers. In strikeouts, they are 1-2, with Scherzer topping the list with 3,361 and Verlander just 50 back at 3,311.

A meeting between two pitchers this accomplished is a rare thing, especially in this era of reduced starting pitcher workloads. According to Elias, Verlander and Scherzer’s 467 combined career wins will be the most by opposing starters over the past 15 seasons. It will be the first time since CC Sabathia and Mark Buehrle squared off in 2015 that there has been a meeting of two starters with at last 200 career wins.

Only 11 pitchers have won at least three Cy Young Awards; two of them will square off on Wednesday.

“I think it’s exciting,” Verlander said. “It’s not too often in baseball anymore you get matchups between two guys who have had the careers like him and I have had. I think it’s exciting for baseball.”

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Ohtani takes Miz deep but phenom fans 12 in win

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Ohtani takes Miz deep but phenom fans 12 in win

MILWAUKEE — Shohei Ohtani greeted Jacob Misiorowski with a leadoff homer, but the Milwaukee Brewers‘ rookie phenom got the last word.

After giving up Ohtani’s 431-foot blast, Misiorowski responded with another dominant outing. He struck out a career-high 12 batters — including two-way superstar Ohtani in the third inning — to lead the Brewers to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.

“It’s Shohei Ohtani,” Misiorowski said. “You kind of expect [that]. It’s cool to see him do it in action, but it fires me up even more coming back the next at-bat and striking him out. I’m right there. I think it was a moment of like, ‘OK, now we go.'”

Misiorowski, whose fastball routinely tops 100 mph, threw an 88.2 mph curveball on an 0-2 count to Ohtani, who crushed it for his 31st homer. That’s the most by a Dodgers player before the All-Star break.

It was the 21st career leadoff homer for the three-time MVP, who struck out swinging on a curveball in the third and walked to start the sixth. That was the only walk given up by Misiorowski, who scattered four hits.

“Really good stuff, aggressive in the zone,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “But what really stood out to me was his command and control.”

Misiorowski outdueled three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, who surpassed 3,000 career strikeouts in his previous outing. Asked Monday about his matchup with Misiorowski, Kershaw said he only knew that the 6-foot-7 right-hander threw hard.

“I know him now, huh?” Kershaw said Tuesday. “That was super impressive. That was unbelievable. It was really special. Everything. Obviously the velo, but he’s got four pitches, commands the ball. I don’t know how you hit that, honestly. That’s just really tough.”

Misiorowski was glad to get Kershaw’s attention.

“I saw something online that he didn’t now who I was, so I hope he knows me now,” Misiorowski said. “It’s kind of cool.”

In five starts since the Brewers called him up from the minors, Misiorowski has already beaten Kershaw and 2024 NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes. In another outing, Misiorowski carried a perfect game into the seventh inning.

“He’s just broken the shell,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He’s just out of the egg, all arms and legs. He’s still got gooey stuff coming off, you can see it, all arms and legs, but there’s something special about him.”

The numbers would indicate as much. Misiorowski is 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA and has given up only 12 hits in 25⅔ innings.

He topped out at 101.6 mph and threw 20 pitches of at least 100 on Tuesday. He also threw 19 curveballs after using curves only 10% of the time before Tuesday.

He was coming off his only shaky performance, giving up five runs — including a grand slam by Brandon Nimmo — and three walks over 3⅔ innings Wednesday in a 7-3 loss to the New York Mets.

It looked as if it might be more of the same after Ohtani went deep. Misiorowski responded by striking out 12 of the next 16 batters.

“I think that’s my job, is to figure it out on the fly,” he said. “I feel like I did it tonight.”

He got out of a jam in the sixth. The Dodgers trailed 2-1 and had runners on second and third with one out, but third baseman Andruw Monasterio fielded a grounder and threw out Ohtani at the plate, and Misiorowski retired Michael Conforto on a grounder.

Misiorowski pumped his fist as he headed toward the dugout, then watched the Brewers’ bullpen nail down the win.

“It’s so satisfying,” Misiorowski said. “It’s just a dream come true, to do what I did.”

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Giants walk off on Bailey’s inside-the-park homer

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Giants walk off on Bailey's inside-the-park homer

SAN FRANCISCO — Patrick Bailey hit a three-run, inside-the-park home run with one out in the ninth inning, lifting the San Francisco Giants to a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night.

Bailey became just the third catcher in MLB history to hit a walk-off, inside-the-park home run, joining the Chicago Cubs’ Pat Moran in 1907 and the Washington Nationals’ Bennie Tate in 1926.

Bailey’s homer would have been an outside-the-park home run in 29 of 30 ballparks, with Oracle Park being the exception.

Mike Yastrzemski reached base twice and scored to help the Giants to their sixth win in seven games.

Casey Schmitt began the rally with a leadoff double. After Jung Hoo Lee popped out, Wilmer Flores lined a single to center.

Bailey, who grounded into a double play and struck out in two of his previous at-bats, then smashed a 1-0 fastball from Jordan Romano (1-4) into right-center field that ricocheted off the brick part of the wall.

Ryan Walker (2-3) retired one batter, with two on in the top of the ninth, to earn the win.

Phillies All-Star Kyle Schwarber had two hits, including his team-leading 28th home run.

Schwarber flew out, struck out and was hit by a pitch before homering off Giants reliever Spencer Bivens into McCovey Cove. Brandon Marsh, who singled as a pinch hitter leading off the inning, scored on the play.

Two days after being named an All-Star for the second time in his career, Robbie Ray gave up four hits and one run in 5⅔ innings.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Mets’ Mendoza: Snubbed Soto ‘an All-Star for us’

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Mets' Mendoza: Snubbed Soto 'an All-Star for us'

BALTIMORE — The New York Mets consider Juan Soto to be a bona fide All-Star, despite the snub he received from those who selected the National League squad for the Midsummer Classic on July 15.

Soto, in his first year with the Mets, has performed well enough to earn the respect of his manager and teammates. In their opinion, he’s deserving of a place in the All-Star Game next week in Atlanta.

“He’s an All-Star for us,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday night after the Mets beat Baltimore 7-6. “It’s frustrating, but I’m hoping in the next couple of days we hear something and he makes it.”

Soto drove in the winning run with a sharp single on the first pitch of the 10th inning. That capped a night in which he went 3 for 5 to raise his batting average to .269 with 21 homers and 52 RBIs.

Soto has walked 72 times, by far the most in the majors, but he can also lash out at a pitcher when necessary.

“He’s got a pretty good understanding of what the pitchers are trying to do to him,” Mendoza said. “There is his awareness of the game, he’s going to see pitchers. There are times when he’s going to be aggressive. Tonight was one of those nights. First pitch in the 10th, he’s attacking.”

Soto made the All-Star team as a member of the Nationals, Padres and Yankees each year since 2021. The streak appears to be over. But his teammates believe he deserves to go.

“What he done all year is just incredible, and the results are good enough,” Mets starting pitcher Clay Holmes said. “The consistency he’s showed up with, at the at-bats he’s taken, is more than an All-Star. He’s one of the best in the game and a big part of our lineup.”

Soto seems rather philosophical about the snub.

“Sometimes, you’re going to make it and sometimes you don’t,” he told reporters after Sunday’s loss to the Yankees. “It’s just part of baseball.”

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