Justin Verlander has yet to win a game this season and prior to tonight’s start he’s looked like a 42-year-old man whose ol’ reliable fastball is now being read third time through the order by just about everybody.
Tonight he started out unevenly. He couldn’t find a rhythm. By the time he straightened it out in the 5th, his only perfect inning, he had given up four hits, three walks and two earned runs.
Still, his three-up, three-down, eight-pitch 5th earned him the right from BoMel to go back out there for the 6th with a 3 – 2 lead.
Randy Rodriguez, known around Giants Baseball Corner as The Wall, came in to limit the damage, but Verlander had his first loss of the season after three no-decisions.
Young Hayden Birdsong gave up a two-run homer to Bryce Harper in the 8th. The Giants tacked one on as Jung Hoo Lee had an RBI single, but it wasn’t enough.
Series tied 1 – 1 with two to play as the Gauntlet continues : the Giants are 3-2 in the first five of seventeen straight.
Let’s go Giants!
Giants Baseball Corner 