{"id":335344,"date":"2025-09-23T08:23:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T08:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/335344\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T08:23:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T08:23:34","slug":"sf-giants-inch-closer-to-elimination-as-cardinals-rough-up-justin-verlander-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/335344\/","title":{"rendered":"SF Giants inch closer to elimination as Cardinals rough up Justin Verlander"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 One game closer to elimination.<\/p>\n

Justin Verlander allowed six runs (four earned) on nine hits over 4 1\/3 innings as the Giants (77-80) lost 6-5 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night at Oracle Park, falling 3.5 games behind the Mets and Reds for the final NL wild card spot with five games remaining.<\/p>\n

San Francisco can be mathematically eliminated on Tuesday if they lose and the Mets win. New York currently owns an 80-76 record and is tied with the Cincinnati Reds for the third and final NL wild card spot. If the Giants lose on Tuesday, the best they could finish 81-81. If San Francisco and New York both finish with 81 wins, the Mets own the tiebreaker after taking four of six games.<\/p>\n

For Verlander, this outing was a departure from his recent run of excellence<\/a>. Over his last five starts entering play, Verlander allowed just three runs over 31 innings (0.87 ERA) with 28 strikeouts. When Verlander faced the Cardinals earlier this month, he tossed six shutout innings<\/a> with six strikeouts to no walks in a no decision.<\/p>\n

Verlander\u2019s four-seam fastball velocity was noticeably down against the Cardinals. On the season, Verlander\u2019s average four-seam clocks in at 94.0 mph. On Monday, Verlander was down to 92.3 mph. Melvin said the 42-year-old might be \u201ca little bit on fumes right now,\u201d and Verlander agreed that he felt \u201ca little lethargic on the mound.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Francisco Giants starting pitcher Justin Verlander #35 rubs up a new ball after giving up a two-run home run to St. Louis Cardinals\u2019 Iv\u00e1n Herrera, #48 scoring Lars Nootbaar #21 in the fifth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been cracking the whip pretty hard,\u201d Verlander said. \u201cIt\u2019s been that time of the year. That takes its toll. Generally, I\u2019ve been feeling pretty good. This is the first one where I felt like I was a little lethargic. Just have to make sure I focus on my recovery this next time through and hopefully refresh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verlander added: \u201cToday, for whatever reason, went out to the bullpen and started doing my stuff and just kind of feel like you\u2019re moving underwater a little bit. It just doesn\u2019t feel as fresh as it does sometimes. It\u2019s not the only time that ever happens. It\u2019s one of those things you go out there and try to grind and make the best of it. Unfortunately, it didn\u2019t happen for me today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verlander would be in line to start against the Colorado Rockies in the final series of the year, and the right-hander said he would want to make a start regardless of whether the Giants are still in contention.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as I feel okay physically \u2014 which I have,\u201d Verlander said. \u201cIt\u2019s my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heliot Ramos began the scoring in the bottom of the first with his fifth leadoff home run of the season, joining Bobby Bonds as the only right-handed hitter in Giants franchise history to have at least five leadoff homers in a single season. Rafael Devers also hit his 33rd home run of the season, a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth.<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Francisco Giants\u2019 Heliot Ramos #17 gestures as he crosses the plate after hitting a solo home run off St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Michael McGreevy #36 in the first inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Cardinals scored a run apiece in the third and fourth following Ramos\u2019 homer, but the Giants scored three runs in the fourth to take a 4-2 lead on an RBI single from Patrick Bailey and a two-run single from Ramos. St. Louis responded to San Francisco\u2019s three-run fourth with a four-run fifth, knocking Verlander out of the game in the process.<\/p>\n

Two of those runs were the product of Iv\u00e1n Herrera\u2019s two-run shot that landed in the Giants\u2019 bullpen. The two other runs followed an error by second baseman Casey Schmitt, who fumbled the transfer on a softly-hit grounder from Pedro Pag\u00e9s with the infield in and a runner on third.<\/p>\n

If Schmitt made the throw and recorded the out at the plate, Verlander would\u2019ve had an opportunity to finish the fifth inning. Instead, Melvin went to his bullpen and Verlander\u2019s night was over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll tell you what, he still competes,\u201d Melvin said. \u201cHe\u2019s on his way to potentially pitching his way out of that inning. We ended up making an error, and at that point in time, it was time to go get him with the pitches he had. You could see he was ratcheting it up another level like we\u2019ve seen him a bunch here, and then unfortunately, we let a run in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman #26 tags out St. Louis Cardinals\u2019 Thomas Saggese #25 as he gets caught in a rundown in the second inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants\u2019 Heliot Ramos #17 gestures as he rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run off St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Michael McGreevy #36 in the first inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Michael McGreevy #36 throws against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants left fielder Heliot Ramos #17 and center fielder Drew Gilbert #61 chase down an RBI single hit by St. Louis Cardinals\u2019 Alec Burleson #41 in the third inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Cardinals\u2019 Jordan Walker #18 is congratulated by Victor Scott II #11 after scoring on an RBI double by Jos\u00e9 Ferm\u00edn #15 in the fourth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Cardinals\u2019 Jordan Walker #18 is congratulated by teammates in the dugout after scoring on an RBI double by Jos\u00e9 Ferm\u00edn #15 in the fourth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants\u2019 Casey Schmitt #10 hits a single off St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Michael McGreevy #36 in the fourth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants\u2019 Matt Chapman #26 heads to third base after a single by Casey Schmitt #10 in the fourth inning of their MLB game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants\u2019 Jerar Encarnacion #59 strikes out against St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Michael McGreevy #36 in the fourth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants\u2019 Patrick Bailey #14 scores past St. Louis Cardinals catcher Pedro Pag\u00e9s #43 on an RBI single by Heliot Ramos #17 in the fourth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants\u2019 Heliot Ramos #17 scrambles back to first base in the fourth inning of their MLB game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Cardinals\u2019 Iv\u00e1n Herrera #48 celebrates his two-run home run off San Francisco Giants\u2019 pitcher Justin Verlander #35 in the fifth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Justin Verlander #35 leaves the game in the fifth inning of their MLB game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Cardinals\u2019 Iv\u00e1n Herrera #48 is congratulated by Alec Burleson #41 after hitting a two-run home run off San Francisco Giants\u2019 pitcher Justin Verlander #35 in the fifth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Cardinals\u2019 Iv\u00e1n Herrera #48 celebrates in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run off San Francisco Giants\u2019 pitcher Justin Verlander #35 in the fifth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants\u2019 Rafael Devers #16 tosses his bat as he watches the flight of his solo home run off St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Michael McGreevy #36 in the fifth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants\u2019 Rafael Devers #16 bat as he celebrates his solo home run off St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Michael McGreevy #36 in the fifth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants\u2019 Patrick Bailey #14 tries to get to the bag after stretching a single as St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Jos\u00e9 Ferm\u00edn #15 makes the play the sixth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. Bailey was out on the play. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Tristan Beck #43 throws against the St. Louis Cardinals in the seventh inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants\u2019 Bryce Eldridge #78 heads to first base after being walked by St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Kyle Leahy #62 in the eighth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Jos\u00e9 Ferm\u00edn #15 makes the play to first base to throw out San Francisco Giants\u2019 Jerar Encarnacion #59 in the ninth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher JoJo Romero #59 and St. Louis Cardinals\u2019 catcher Pedro Pag\u00e9s #43 celebrate their 6-5 MLB win over the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Cardinals lef fielder Lars Nootbaar, #21 center fielder Victor Scott II #11and right fielder Jordan Walker #18 celebrate their 6-5 MLB win over the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Jos\u00e9 Ferm\u00edn #15 relief pitcher JoJo Romero, #59 catcher Pedro Pag\u00e9s #43 and Thomas Saggese #25 celebrate their 6-5 MLB win over the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 24<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman #26 tags out St. Louis Cardinals\u2019 Thomas Saggese #25 as he gets caught in a rundown in the second inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Originally Published: September 22, 2025 at 9:18 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 One game closer to elimination. Justin Verlander allowed six runs (four earned) on nine hits…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2403],"tags":[5,5776,2178,160,5775,853,4,5777,5505,378,5778,66,185,673,67,4311,4310],"class_list":{"0":"post-335344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-cardinals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-cardinals","12":"tag-inside-sports","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-peninsula","16":"tag-photos-and-videos","17":"tag-san-francisco","18":"tag-san-francisco-county","19":"tag-san-francisco-giants","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-st-louis","22":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","23":"tag-stlouis","24":"tag-stlouiscardinals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115252652226392502","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}