Giants' Justin Verlander gets a no decision as Pirates score twice in 9th to win

San Francisco Chronicle​

15 hours ago

PITTSBURGH — Justin Verlander rediscovered his youth Monday night at PNC Park, pitching like he was in the prime of his sure-fire Hall of Fame career.
In his best outing by far for the San Francisco Giants, Verlander allowed one run, and that unearned. He struck out three — including getting Joey Bart looking at, essentially, a 98 mph fastball to end the fifth. And still, Verlander did not get a W, such is his fate with the Giants.
He went six innings and he was in line to win his second consecutive decision when the Giants did their ultimate deny-Verlander act, with new closer Randy Rodriguez walking one and hitting another batter in the ninth before Bart tied it up with a base hit against his former team. Isaiah Kiner-Falefa's tapper to first ended it, a 5-4 walkoff win for the Pirates when the Giants were unable to get the safe call at home overturned.
Verlander has made 10 starts this season in which he's worked at least five innings and allowed no more than two runs, and San Francisco is 1-9 in those games.
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"I'm not shying away from it - everybody knows where I'm at wins-wise," said Verlander, who's 37 away from 300 for his career. "I'd like to get some, you know, but at the same time, you just control what you can control. It's a s- run in a long career, and nothing I can do about it. You just try to pitch better consistently and keep us in ball games and give us a chance to win, give myself a chance to win, and do that more times than not and see where things end up."
Verlander's fastball has averaged 94.1 mph this season, and he hadn't hit 98 mph this season before Monday, but he threw Bart one 98.3 mph fastball, his hardest pitch since Game 1 of the 2022 ALCS. The one he struck Bart out on was 97.9, a velocity he hadn't recorded since his second start on April 9.
"I was just talking to IKF and I was like, 'I really wouldn't want to see that guy in his prime,' " Bart said. "He's got a different fastball. He made some really good pitches against a lot of us, but especially against me. Facing a guy like that, you just hope you're ready for one mistake, and if you don't capitalize you probably won't get another one."
The oldest player in U.S. pro sports, at 42, Verlander appeared as if he felt a dozen years younger, too. In the sixth, he dove to his right for Spence Horwitz's tapper. He missed, amusing the infield; third baseman Matt Chapman tipped his cap at the attempt before giggling in his glove with shortstop Willy Adames as Verlander smiled and assured them he was fine.
"That was fun, all those guys came out there, and I'm just like, 'Hey, we don't need to call an ambulance here, I'm OK,' " he said "Everybody's just kind of like looking at me, like, wide eyed. I'm all right, not a little fragile egg, I can move around on the mound. I am a fielder, after all."
Verlander's velocity wasn't the only strong aspect of his night; his curveball was the best it's been, catcher Patrick Bailey said. Verlander entered the game using the pitch about 14 percent of the time and upped it to 23 percent Monday.
Helping things along are some mechanical changes he's made lately, including moving his glove position up near his neck and shifting to the left on the rubber. The results: He's allowed one earned run over his past three starts and 16 innings.
Run support remains elusive for Verlander, with just 33 runs of backing in his 18 starts entering Monday, the fewest in the majors among pitchers with that many starts. Monday, his teammates pasted two runs on the board right away, with Dom Smith knocking an RBI single and Casey Schmitt drawing a bases-loaded walk from Johan Oviedo, making his first start since 2023 after recovering from elbow surgery.
The Giants took their walks Monday, drawing five, including two to open the fifth. With two outs, Jung-Hoo Lee tripled to right center to send in both.
Little-used Carson Seymour, pitching in only his fourth game since July 2, had a 1-2-3, 12-pitch sixth but walked Liover Peguero and gave up a homer by Jack Suwinski in the seventh.