SAN FRANCISCO – What does a 262-win pitcher do after he makes his ninth start of the season yet fails again to get No. 263?
"I’ll go home, watch a TV show, have a glass of wine and get ready for tomorrow. I’ll come in early and start getting ready for my next start,” Justin Verlander said Monday night after he lost another game he easily could have won with a modicum of offensive support.
Verlander held the Diamondbacks to two Corbin Carroll solo homers over the first six innings, yet he trailed by a run in the seventh when Carroll’s turn came around again, prompting manager Bob Melvin to pull him.
A refurbished Giants lineup could not push across the tying run and they lost, 2-1, to run their season-worst losing streak to four games.
Verlander’s record in his first season in San Francisco stands at four quality starts, no wins, three losses and six no-decisions.
Melvin made his first significant lineup change this season, to no avail, after sticking with a host of struggling hitters for the first quarter of the schedule. He finally acted after a 2-4 trip through Chicago and Minnesota and a longer stretch of seven losses in 12 games after a 19-10 start.
Melvin sat first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. against a right-handed starter for the first time this season, replacing him with Wilmer Flores, ordinarily the designated hitter.
He also dropped shortstop Willy Adames from second to sixth, while elevating the Giants’ only hot hitter, Heliot Ramos, to third.
Ramos had three hits and nearly tied the game in the eighth with a 110.8 mph drive to left. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. timed his leap and made a stunning catch with his arms and legs stretched to their limit before landing on the warning track with a backward somersault.
Jung Hoo Lee dropped a spot and hit cleanup -- for the first time since at least 2021 in Korea, he told reporters after the game -- while Matt Chapman moved from cleanup to the two-spot.
Wade was hitting .142 with no homers as the Giants’ primary first baseman and produced little from a traditional strong-offense position. His average, homer total and .463 OPS through Sunday ranked last among qualified first basemen.
Melvin said Wade’s effort has not been an issue. To the contrary, actually.
"The work he’s putting in, it’s pretty extreme," said Melvin. "So it’s not like he’s sitting around pouting. He’s working like crazy. For a guy who’s had as much success as he’s had this is really hard, and the longer it goes on the harder it is. We’re just trying to give him a mental break.”
Melvin said Wade will start Tuesday night before sitting in Wednesday's finale against left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez.
Wade by necessity will continue to get the lion’s share of starts at first, at least until Jerar Encarnacion can come off the injured list in late May. Melvin does not want to push Flores physically by having him play defense too often.
"Look, we have what we have here, and [Wade’s] our first baseman,” Melvin said. “He’s done it a while now and he’s done it well. He’s just gone through a tough period. He’s not the only guy.”
That includes Adames, batting .217 with four homers and a .632 OPS before being dropped in the lineup. That he signed the richest contract in Giants history at seven years and $182 million could be adding to the pressure.
Adames looked better against the Diamondbacks, hitting a 105.8 mph double in the fifth and scoring the Giants’ run on a two-out Christian Koss single. Adames also sent Carroll to the wall in right field in his bid for a tying home run in the ninth.
Dropping Adames in the lineup could provide a mental break, but Melvin also noted that Adames has been a run producer his whole career and should have more runners to drive in with Ramos, Lee and Flores batting ahead of him.
Adames made a mechanical change, too. As the Giants' broadcast showed on a split-screen, Adames shortened his front-foot leg lift as he begins his swing. Hitting coach Pat Burrell said Adames has worked to improve his timing.
Overall, the reviews on the lineup changes were not positive, but Chapman believes they can help.
"Sometimes a lineup shakeup can get things going,” he said. “There are times you shake the lineup up a little bit and times you let it run. I think BoMel is trying to get a few guys going.”