Young Award-winning 2011 season and led the AL in strikeouts for the fifth time in his career. Verlander also led the major leagues with a 0.902 WHIP and a 7.84 strikeouts-to-walks ratio. His 1.6-per-9 IP walk rate was the lowest of his career. He had the highest fly ball percentage among major league pitchers (51.4%). He finished the season with four straight games in which he struck out 10+ batters, giving him a career-best 13 games this season with double-digit strikeouts. In Game 1 of the ALDS, Verlander earned the win, allowing two runs in innings and striking out seven against the Cleveland Indians. The Astros earned a three-game sweep over the Indians, and moved on to face the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series. Verlander started and won Game 1 of the ALCS in Fenway Park, allowing two runs and two hits in six innings pitched. Verlander lost Game 5 of the ALCS with his team down three games to one, surrendering four runs in six innings. It marked the first time in his career that he lost a postseason elimination game. In the 2018 AL Cy Young Award voting announced on November 14, Verlander finished second to Blake Snell of the Tampa Bay Rays by 15 points (169–154). Verlander received 13 first-place votes to Snell's 17. This was Verlander's third Cy Young runner-up finish, and sixth time finishing in the top five. 2019: Third no-hitter, 3,000 strikeouts, second Cy Young award, and World Series On March 24, 2019, Verlander and the Astros agreed on a two-year, $66 million contract extension to keep Verlander with Houston through the 2021 season. Verlander made his 11th career Opening Day start on March 28, earning a 5–1 victory versus reigning Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and the Tampa Bay Rays. On June 1, Verlander threw eight innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts, passing Cy Young on the all-time MLB strikeouts list and finished the night with 2,809 career strikeouts. He struck out seven in his next outing against the Seattle Mariners on June 6 to move into the top 20 on the all-time strikeouts list, surpassing Mike Mussina's total of 2,813. In the June 12 contest versus the Milwaukee Brewers Verlander struck out a career-high fifteen batters, fourteen of them swinging, over seven innings. On June 18, Verlander struck out eight Cincinnati Reds batters to move past