BOSTON (AP) — Justin Verlander took his first step to returning to the Houston Astros, tossing three innings for Triple-A Sugar Land on Saturday night.
Working back from neck stiffness that’s sidelined him for two months, the 41-year-old, three-time Cy Young Award winner threw 52 pitches and 36 strikes, allowing one run with three strikeouts and two walks.
Astros manager Joe Espada said they were waiting to hear how he felt Sunday, and then he’ll probably get another rehab start before he could get back to the majors.
“Everything was positive, so hopefully we can get one more and then we can get him on the major-league level,” Espada said Sunday morning, standing outside the dugout at Fenway Park before the Astros faced the Red Sox in the series finale. “It’s all about JV, depending how he feels for what he needs to get him back here to stay.”
Verlander hasn’t pitched since June 9. He also missed the beginning of the season with right shoulder inflammation before going 3-2 with a 3.95 ERA in 10 starts. He made his season debut April 19.
“Physically, I felt good,” Verlander told reporters after his start Saturday. “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.”
Espada said his fastball reached 95 a few times.
“He reported everything went really well, waiting to hear from him this morning,” Espada said.
A two-time World Series champion with the Astros, Verlander left for the New York Mets in free agency before the 2023 season. He was traded back to Houston in August last year.
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FILE - Houston Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander throws during a simulated game Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Kevin M. Cox, File)
LONDON (AP) — Google won a court challenge on Wednesday against a 1.49 billion euro ($1.66 billion) European Union antitrust fine imposed five years ago that targeted its online advertising business.
The EU's General Court said it was throwing out the 2019 penalty imposed by the European Commission, which is the 27-nation bloc's top antitrust enforcer.
“The General Court annuls the Commission’s decision in its entirety,” the court said in a press release.
The commission's ruling applied to a narrow portion of Google’s ad business: ads that the U.S. tech giant sold next to Google search results on third-party websites.
Regulators had accused Google of inserting exclusivity clauses in its contracts that barred these websites from running similarly placed ads sold by Google’s rivals. The commission said when it issued the penalty that Google's behavior resulted in advertisers and website owners having less choice and likely facing higher prices that would be passed on to consumers.
But the General Court said the commission “committed errors” when it assessed those clauses. The commission failed to demonstrate that Google's contracts deterred innovation, harmed consumers or helped the company hold on to and strengthen its dominant position in national online search advertising markets, it said.
The ruling can be appealed, but only on points of law, to the Court of Justice, the bloc's top court.
The commission said in a brief statement that it “will carefully study the judgment and reflect on possible next steps.”
Google said it changed its contracts in 2016 to remove the provisions in question, even before the commission imposed its decision.
“We are pleased that the court has recognised errors in the original decision and annulled the fine,” Google said in a statement. "We will review the full decision closely.”
The company's legal victory comes a week after it lost a final challenge against a separate EU antitrust case for its shopping comparison service that also involved a hefty fine.
They were among three antitrust penalties totaling about 8 billion euros that the commission punished Google with in the previous decade. The penalties marked the beginning of an era of intensifying scrutiny for Big Tech companies.
Since then, Google has faced escalating pressure on both sides of the Atlantic over its digital ad business. It’s currently battling the Justice Department in a U.S. federal court over allegations that its dominance over the technology that controls the sale of billions of internet display ads constitutes an illegal monopoly.
British competition regulators this month accused the company of abusing its dominance in the country’s digital ad market and giving preference to its own services.
EU antitrust enforcers carrying out their own investigation suggested last year that breaking up the company was the only way to satisfy competition concerns about its digital ad business.
FILE - In this April 17, 2007 file photo, exhibitors work on laptop computers in front of an illuminated sign of the Google logo at the industrial fair Hannover Messe in Hanover, Germany. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File)
