ATLANTA -- Justin Verlander finally has a win with the Giants.
After going 0-8 over his first 16 starts this season -- the longest winless streak by a starting pitcher in franchise history -- Verlander pitched five scoreless innings and allowed just one hit with three strikeouts as he helped secure a series-clinching 9-3 win over the Braves on Wednesday afternoon at Truist Park.
Verlander struggled with command as he issued five walks, but he managed to qualify for the victory as he threw 98 pitches. It was Verlander’s first win since Sept. 28, 2024, when he was with the Astros. It was the Giants’ first series win since July 7-9 against the Phillies.
Verlander’s teammates had a congratulatory gift for the veteran right-hander after the game.
“A couple of the guys got me a nice bottle of wine as a congrats, which feels great, so I’ll probably have a little bit of that,” Verlander said. “I’m happy to be able to contribute, finally.”
Verlander said his first win with the Giants, after going winless for the first half of the season, was slightly more significant than a standard victory.
“Sometimes when things are going well, you take things for granted and sometimes, you go out there and pitch every five days and you’re winning most of them, and you’re in the high-five line afterwards,” Verlander said. “It’s been a tough stretch physically and on the mound. Hopefully this can get the ball rolling in the right direction.”
It was a long first inning for Verlander, who tallied 40 pitches and walked three batters.
“It’s not really ideal,” Verlander said. “You come into a game and it’s hot and humid. You kind of want to have quick innings and put the other pitcher on the ropes a little bit, and have him out there dealing with the humidity. Especially after [Braves starter Spencer Strider] had a long first. You had to adapt to the humidity a little bit. The balls were a little slick. I obviously lost the zone a little bit. I had some walks.
“They battled me pretty good, but I was able to get out of it. From there, I just kind of tried to reset. I went down and sat in front of the fan to try and cool the body [temperature]. From there, it was OK.”
“We know every time he goes out there guys try extra hard and for whatever reason it just hasn’t worked out,” manager Bob Melvin said. “For him to be able to get through five after throwing [40] pitches in the first inning, there’s some toughness involved in that. [There’s] a lot of heat out there. He knows that bullpen-wise we’re beat up, too. To get through the first was huge for him.”
Rain began to fall in the middle of the fifth inning as Verlander needed just three outs to qualify for the win after the Giants took a 3-0 lead into the top of the sixth. Verlander looked as though he had a sense of urgency coming out of the dugout.
“I figured something like that would happen,” Verlander said. “It would be like, ‘OK, this would be the game that gets rained out and there’s going to be a two-hour delay, and they won’t let me go back out.’ I asked the umpire and he said he didn’t know of anything, just a light drizzle potentially. It was so light it didn’t really matter that much.”
The Giants used the long ball to take a 6-0 lead as Rafael Devers continued to terrorize the Braves. Devers tallied his 20th career multi-homer game with a solo blast in the fifth and a three-run jack in the sixth.
Devers’ first home run was off a slider from Strider. The offering was .90 feet off the ground. It was the second-lowest pitch to result in a home run this season. The only pitch lower that resulted in a home run was hit by Pete Crow-Armstrong at .86 feet.
The nine runs were tied for the most the Giants have scored in a game in which Verlander started this season.
“It’s nice to have run support,” Verlander said. “It comes and goes. It’s never something that I fault the team for. I know that they’re trying just as much if not more. After [the losing streak], I know those guys were really grinding. On occasion when they go out and score a bunch, it’s nice.”