SAN FRANCISCO — Justin Verlander needed about four months to record his first win as a Giant. He only needed a fraction of the time to earn his second.

Verlander totaled the 264th win of his career as the Giants beat the Chicago Cubs 5-2 on Tuesday night at Oracle Park, allowing two runs over six innings with five strikeouts. It didn’t just mark Verlander’s second win of the year but his first-ever win at Oracle Park — a win he wishes he recorded 13 years ago when the Giants and Tigers met in the World Series.

“No offense, but I wish I had one in 2012,” Verlander laughed.

With his strikeout of former teammate Kyle Tucker in the top of the first inning, Verlander passed Walter Johnson for ninth on the all-time strikeout list. Verlander is now 15 strikeouts away from passing Gaylord Perry (3,534) for eighth on the all-time list.

“I try to do a better job at being a little more present,” Verlander said. “The last few years especially, coming back from Tommy John (surgery), it’s been an emphasis of mine to pay attention a little bit more to things and be present, not only on the field but off the field with my family.

“You can get so stuck in the mindset of grinding. This year’s been so tough for that. It’s been really hard for me to not crawl into my little shell. My family helps me a lot off the field, and here, we have a great group of guys. They’ve helped a lot. Just relishing the positive.”

The Giants not only scored enough runs to get Verlander a win, but they did so against their kryptonite: a left-handed pitcher.

Entering play, San Francisco ranked last in the majors in batting average (.209), on-base percentage (.275) and slugging percentage (.340) against lefties. Chapman and Wilmer Flores both homered off the Cubs’ left-hander Matthew Boyd while Heliot Ramos and Rafael Devers chipped in an RBI apiece.

“We’ve been a little bit better,” Melvin said. “Early in the season it was really bad. We don’t think about it as much now. … Tonight, drew three walks, some homers. Flo’s homer helped quite a bit early on, too, and just kind of relieves that ‘here we go again’ type feeling that maybe we had against lefties earlier.”

It was difficult to ignore that “here we go again” type feeling when Verlander walked off the mound with the Giants leading 3-2 going into the bottom of the sixth.

On six occasions this season, Verlander ended up with a no decision despite being in line for a win. Most recently, Verlander pitched seven shutout innings against the Tampa Bay Rays but didn’t have a win to show for the effort. On this night, the bullpen and the offense both ensured Verlander left Oracle Park with a win in hand.

Following Verlander’s departure, Chapman hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth that extended San Francisco’s lead to 5-2 and gave the Randy Rodríguez-less bullpen some much-needed breathing room. From there, Joey Lucchesi, José Buttó and Ryan Walker finished the job.

Lucchesi retired all four batters that he faced, striking out a pair in the process. Buttó handled his only two batters as well, setting up Walker to close the door in the ninth.

Walker allowed a one-out single to Dansby Swanson in the top of the ninth, but that would be the extent of Chicago’s offense for the rest of the night as the crossfiring right-hander finished the game without much drama.

“It’s not like it doesn’t cross your mind sometimes, but this game kind of had a good feel to it,” Melvin said. “Once we scored in the sixth, we felt like we were in a pretty good spot with who was available and just kind of how we were playing the game.”

Added Chapman: “Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten him more wins, but I think he’s pitched well enough to deserve some more. He’s been pitching well. I feel like he’s strung together some really quality starts, so I was glad we were able to get him the win today.”

Worth noting

Center fielder Jung Hoo Lee was not in the lineup on Tuesday as part of a scheduled off day.

Originally Published: August 26, 2025 at 9:14 PM PDT