Houston Astros star Justin Verlander took another step toward returning to the majors with a 52-pitch rehab start at Triple-A Sugar Land on Saturday night.

Verlander, rehabbing from neck stiffness that has sidelined him for two months, didn’t experience any setbacks during the three-inning stint against the El Paso Chihuahuas.

“Everything was positive, so hopefully we can get one more and then we can get him on the major-league level,” Astros manager Joe Espada said Sunday before the Astros faced the Boston Red Sox. “It’s all about JV, depending how he feels for what he needs to get him back here to stay.”

The right-handed Verlander, 41, allowed one run, two hits, two walks and struck out three. He told reporters after the appearance that he felt good.

“Physically, I felt good,” Verlander said. “Checked all the boxes I needed to today. I was able to throw everything, but execution wasn’t as good as I would like. I try not to be too nitpicky. Health is first and foremost, the hard thing with coming back on rehab starts is you don’t have as many starts to fine tune all your mechanics like we do in spring training. You have to be a bit critical in execution and try to get better next time out.”

Verlander, 41, last pitched in the majors on June 9 against the Los Angeles Angels. He was scratched from his following start against the Detroit Tigers due to neck discomfort.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner and 2011 American League MVP has endured an injury riddled season. He started the campaign on the injured list due to a right shoulder injury.

Verlander is 3-2 with a 3.95 ERA in 10 starts for the Astros this season.

Verlander is the active leader with 260 career victories. During 19 seasons, he has lost 143 games, struck out 3,393 batters and pitched 26 complete games while making 519 career starts for the Tigers (2005-17), Astros (2017-22, 2023-24) and New York Mets (2023).

–Field Level Media