Cruel universe: Giants blow another victory for Justin Verlander

New York Times

3 days ago

PITTSBURGH — Justin Verlander has been dealt at the trade deadline before. In the waning days of July, as the transactional cliff approached, the future Hall of Fame pitcher considered the possibility that the struggling San Francisco Giants might send him packing to a team more firmly in contention.
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'I wasn't really pressing the issue one way or the other,' Verlander said last week. 'Just let the cards fall where they may. I'm enjoying being in San Francisco. I'm enjoying living there. My family's there, got a newborn. You know, it wouldn't be the easiest life decision to go somewhere else right now. So, yeah, just kind of like, let the universe figure it out.'
But cozying up to cosmic odds hasn't gotten Verlander anywhere this season. He remained with the Giants after the deadline passed last week. And he remains caught in a personal purgatory in which the universe appears to be conspiring against him.
Or we could leave the metaphysics out of it and just report this: whenever Verlander pitches well enough to win this season, either the Giants defense or bullpen or a combination (conflagration?) of the two have performed at their worst and blown it for him. With minimal exception, on Verlander's day, the Giants have been neither super nor natural all season.
And each letdown appears more cursed than the last.
Verlander had the best stuff he's displayed all year Monday night at PNC Park. His fastball touched 98.3 mph in the fourth inning — the hardest he's thrown a pitch in nearly three seasons. Sure, left fielder Heliot Ramos committed yet another bobble (cue the Scooby Doo-slipping-on-marbles sound effect) that led to an unearned run in the first inning. Verlander had to pitch around another error in the fourth after third baseman Matt Chapman speared a hard grounder and adventure-seeking first baseman Rafael Devers couldn't pick his short-hopped throw.
42-year old Justin Verlander throwing 98 MPH is just completely ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/16jm8UcQlk
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) August 5, 2025
But Verlander walked off the mound after five innings with a 4-1 lead, good vibes abounding. He ended his day by striking out personal nemesis Tommy Pham, who entered 6-for-9 with three doubles, a walk and no strikeouts against him — the highest batting average of any opposing hitter with at least 10 plate appearances. There was levity, too. Verlander and his teasing teammates were smiling and laughing about the 42-year-old pitcher's grass-eating attempt to field a dribbler to the third base side of the mound in the fifth. Chapman and shortstop Willy Adames put a hand to their chests as if their hearts were aflutter.
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'Yeah, that was fun,' said Verlander, who fortunately had Chapman behind him to make the play. 'I'm just like, 'Hey, we don't need to call an ambulance here. I'm allowed to dive. Everything's OK.' Everybody was looking at me kind of wide-eyed. Like, 'I'm all right. I'm not a little fragile egg.' I was just having a good time with it. It was nice to hear the guys laugh.'
Enough with the tragic foreshadowing. You know by now how this is going to go. Right-hander Carson Seymour, pushed for a second relief inning, gave up a two-run home run in the seventh. Then Randy Rodriguez, pushed for a four-out save attempt, gave it up in the ninth. A walk and a hit batter preceded a tying single from former Giant Joey Bart, then Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a slow roller to the trainee at first base. It would've taken a perfect play from Devers to throw out Suwinski at the plate. Instead, it was only close enough for the Giants to order up a de rigueur replay review that provided no recourse as the Pirates stormed to a 5-4 victory.
Just in case you missed it 👀 pic.twitter.com/ewu4FDNQ2i
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) August 5, 2025
'Look, I'm not going to shy away from it,' said Verlander, who, after the no-decision, is 1-8 after 19 starts. 'Everybody knows where I'm at wins-wise. I'd like to get some. At the same time, control what you can control. It's a s—– run in a long career. Nothing you can do about it. 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 more times than not, and see where things end up.'
The Pirates are 4-0 against the Giants over the past eight days. Their sweep in San Francisco last week hastened the Giants into a seller's posture at the deadline. With so few starting pitchers dealt, some of the teams in buy mode might regret not showing more interest in Verlander, who has allowed one earned run in 15 innings across his past three starts.
'That might have been his best start of the year,' Giants manager Bob Melvin said. 'We're in August and he's throwing 98 mph. So he's obviously found something mechanically and found his second wind. They made him throw a few pitches, 100 after 5, but we're in position to win that game. He comes out and it's 4-1. It's a game we expect to win.'
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Verlander remained stuck on 263 career victories in his quest for 300. If the Giants were a mining claim, he would've abandoned it by now. Short of the Giants releasing him and eating the rest of his $15 million salary, Verlander will have to keep swinging his pickax at what's been a barren landscape.
The Giants lineup minimized a golden chance to blow the game open in the first inning when newly activated Pirates starter Johan Oviedo allowed five of the first six batters to reach via hit or walk. They managed just two runs after Jung Hoo Lee and Bailey struck out with the bases loaded. Lee's two-run triple in the fifth provided a 4-1 cushion. But the Giants needed to do more damage against what was essentially a bullpen game.
In the end, once again, Verlander made no progress on the all-time wins leader board. He's three away from Bob Feller, five from Jim Palmer, seven from Jamie Moyer, and eight from Mike Mussina. With a bit of luck (ha!), he could've passed all of them by now.
Verlander recorded his 10th start this season in which he's completed at least five innings and allowed two runs or fewer. The Giants have lost nine of those 10 starts.
While the Giants were in New York over the weekend, Verlander laughed as he talked about Houston Astros owner Jim Crane's decision to reacquire shortstop Carlos Correa from the Minnesota Twins.
'The city's super excited, I'm sure,' Verlander said of his former teammate's reunion with a team he led to a 2017 World Series title. 'That was surprising. Although Jim's been known … he brings guys back.'
Verlander already returned to Houston once, at the 2023 deadline six months after he signed with the Mets. One of the players the Astros gave up in that trade was outfield prospect Drew Gilbert, who was a first-round pick. Verlander noted over the weekend that Gilbert was in the three-player package the Giants received from the Mets for right-hander Tyler Rogers.
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'He was a big piece of the deal,' Verlander said. 'I remember when I got to Houston, (they said) he was the holdup. Houston thought highly of him and didn't want to let him go. So I immediately recognized his name because that was a piece everybody was waiting on. Hopefully he can help San Francisco.'
On Monday night, Rogers probably would've helped more.
(Photo of Verlander: Justin K. Aller / Getty Images)