In his 17th start of the season, Justin Verlander finally won his first game as a Giant — and the 263rd of his career — by pitching around five walks to deliver five scoreless innings as San Francisco (54-49) defeated the Atlanta Braves 9-3 on Wednesday afternoon at Truist Park.
The future Hall of Famer was supported by an offense led by designated hitter Rafael Devers, who had two homers, four RBIs and his hardest-hit ball of the season a day after playing his first career game at first base.
“It’s been a tough stretch for me physically and on the mound a bit,” Verlander said. “So, hopefully, this gets the ball rolling in the right direction.”
This moment has been months in the making for Verlander, who didn’t record a victory over his first 16 starts of the season. That’s not just the longest winless streak of his career, but the longest by a Giants starting pitcher (not including openers) in a single season in franchise history. In the middle of that stretch, Verlander spent a month on the injured list due to right pectoral soreness.
While Verlander has had his share of clunkers this season, the 42-year-old pitched well enough several times to pick up his first win before spring gave way to summer.
On three occasions, Verlander exited the ballgame in position to win but the Giants’ bullpen blew the lead at some point following his departure.
On five other occasions, Verlander turned in quality starts but didn’t receive enough run support. There was also Verlander’s quality start against the Philadelphia Phillies on July 9 after he made a mechanical tweak, a game that ended in a 13-0 blowout.
On this occasion, he finally ended a game with a win — and a bottle of wine — in hand.
“We’ve wanted so badly to get him that first win and we haven’t necessarily (played well), whether that’s play good defense behind him or swing the bats well or a couple things didn’t go our way,” said Matt Chapman, who hit a two-run homer. “… We’re definitely going to enjoy this one today.”
Enjoying wins on Tuesday and Wednesday required convening as a team following Monday’s ugly 9-5 loss, one where Hayden Birdsong didn’t record a single out. No one on the Giants used the phrase “team meeting,” but there were allusions to a talk after Monday’s loss. Following that game, San Francisco proceeded to outscore Atlanta 18-3 over the next two days.
“Sometimes, you just kind of need to hear it and hit the reset button and move forward,” Chapman said. “We’re all big boys here. … The goal never changed, but sometimes it’s good to all get on the same page.”
Similar to Birdsong on Monday, Verlander’s outing looked as if it could’ve ended before it really started.
Verlander gifted the Braves a rally in the bottom of the first inning by walking Matt Olson, Sean Murphy and Ozzie Albies. As Verlander’s pitch count rose, San Francisco’s bullpen began to stir. Melvin planned to allow Verlander’s pitch count to get into the 40s but would’ve pulled Verlander if he crossed the 50-pitch threshold.
“I had to adapt to (the humidity) a little bit,” Verlander said. “The balls were a little slick and just didn’t quite have my pitches. I lost the zone a little bit, had some walks and they battled me pretty good, but was able to get out of it. From there, just try to reset as best as you can. I went down and sat in front of a fan and tried to cool the body temperature down a little bit.”
Braves starter Spencer Strider and Verlander traded zeros through the first four innings, but San Francisco’s offense finally awoke in the top of the fifth.
Devers, who returned to DH for Wednesday’s matinee, gave the Giants a 1-0 lead by golfing a shoe-top slider over the right-field fence. Devers’ homer, his 18th of the season, registered an exit velocity of 92.5 mph, the lowest that he has ever had on a homer in the majors. Two batters later, Chapman expanded San Francisco’s lead to 3-0 with an opposite-field, two-run shot, his 14th homer of the season.
“Special player, special hitter,” Verlander said of Devers. “Those guys just sometimes have the ability to do things that as a pitcher, you just kind of tip your cap.”
A light rain began to fall that sent fans scattering for the concourses before the bottom of the fifth, the last inning Verlander needed to complete to put himself in line for a win. Verlander joked that he “figured something like that would happen,” knowing that a lengthy rain delay would thwart his chances of finishing the minimum five innings, but Verlander completed the fifth amidst a light drizzle.
From there, the Giants’ offense ensured Verlander wouldn’t go home winless again.
Devers doubled the lead to 6-0 in the top of the sixth with a no-doubt, three-run home run, his first multi-homer game as a Giant. In the seventh, the Giants put up their third three-spot of the day on RBI singles from Dominic Smith and Luis Matos, as well as an RBI groundout from Patrick Bailey.
The Giants will now return to San Francisco for a six-game homestand against the New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates before the July 31 trade deadline.
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