HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- Justin Verlander cleared another hurdle in his bid to rejoin the Astros starting rotation after throwing a three inning, 52 pitch live batting practice on at Minute Maid Park on Monday afternoon.
"It was a huge win," Verlander said.
Verlander faced Grae Kessinger and Jon Singleton for a session that was only supposed to go 50 pitches, but since his first inning last just seven or eight pitches, he faced a couple of extra batters in his final inning so he could get his pitch count over 50.
"I was behind home plate, and the shape of his pitches looked pretty good," Astros manager Joe Espada said. "The hop on his fastball, so all the qualities that you looking for on his pitches were there."
Espada declined to say when Verlander will go out on a rehab assignment, but if he feels good on Tuesday he could pitch for Sugar Land this weekend.
Verlander got a late start to spring training after dealing with right shoulder irritation during his offseason ramp-up, and he wants to be built up to at least 85 pitches before returning to the Astros rotation.
He opted for another live BP session on Monday because he wanted to pitch in a more controlled environment, and Monday is a minor league off day. He did not want to push things by pitching Sunday and he didn't want to wait until Tuesday.
The 41-year old said after last week's live BP that he was having trouble maintaining his velocity in-between innings, but he had no trouble with that on Monday.
"It's like warming an engine up," Verlander said. "Every step of the way I just had to be cautious and make sure I didn't overdo it. I feel like I can get there I'm much safer throwing as hard as I can. The hard part is just going, 'Okay, I got eight (warmup) pitches, just don't even think about it.
"This was better than last time."
