SF Giants’ cold offense prolongs Verlander’s longest winless streak
SAN FRANCISCO — The record is sounding broken.
Justin Verlander, once again, put himself in position to earn his first win as a Giant. He pitched six-plus innings and allowed two runs on a pair of solo homers by Corbin Carroll. As baseball’s oldest player, he’s now recorded four quality starts in his last five outings.
By night’s end, he remained winless, stuck at 262 career victories.
Manager Bob Melvin’s new lineup couldn’t figure out Merrill Kelly, who outdueled the future Hall of Famer by allowing one run over seven innings. Carroll’s two homers proved to be the difference, and the Giants fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2-1, on Monday night at Oracle Park, extending their losing streak to a season-high four games.
“That’s one of the tough things about being a starting pitcher,” Verlander said. “You want to win baseball games, right? You have the exact same outing and you win, you feel really good when you go home. Versus this one, you don’t feel nearly as good.”
Verlander, in an alternate universe, may have as many as five, six or seven victories to his name.
On three occasions, Verlander was in position to record a win but ended up with a no-decision because the bullpen couldn’t hold a lead. In two other instances, Monday night included, Verlander recorded a quality start but didn’t receive run support. There was also Verlander’s start against the Philadelphia Phillies when Melvin kept Verlander in the game a bit too long, a decision that resulted in Verlander taking the loss.
Carroll, the Diamondbacks’ star outfielder, hit solo homers off Verlander in the third and fifth innings, continuing to lay the foundation of a potential NL MVP campaign. Verlander went out for the seventh inning for the first time this year, but after allowing a leadoff single to Geraldo Perdomo, Melvin pulled Verlander instead of letting him face Carroll for a fourth time.
“Those were impressive at-bats,” Verlander said of Carroll. “He’s obviously a great player having a great season. Good swings.”
Verlander isn’t the first great pitcher to suffer through a winless streak of this length.
Of the 24 pitchers in league history who have won at least 300 games, eight of them — Warren Spahn, Greg Maddux, Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan, Don Sutton, Phil Niekro, Tom Glavine, Early Wynn — have gone at least nine consecutive starts without a win. Ryan and Sutton endured that fate five times.
The Giants are hoping to snap their collective winless streak too, four losses in a row representing their longest skid of the season.
Offense, or lack thereof, has been the key culprit in recent days, San Francisco having scored one run exactly in three of these four losses. Following a series against the Twins’ sharp pitching staff, Kelly kept the Giants’ bats quiet with seven innings of one-run ball.
Trailing 2-1 in the eighth, the Giants nearly scored the tying run when Heliot Ramos concluded an 11-pitch battle against the Diamondbacks’ Jalen Beeks by smashing an 110.8 mph line drive towards left field. Mike Yastrzemski would’ve likely at least advanced to third if the ball had fallen in, but left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. made a leaping catch that was equal parts impressive and awkward.
“A lot of stuff’s not falling our way,” said second baseman Christian Koss, who drove in the Giants’ only run. “Ramos hits a ball 111 and the guy does a back flip, it’s kind of hard. I think a couple guys might be trying a little too hard, trying to get us out of this rut by themselves. It just goes back to us stringing together (hits) and getting back to those team at-bats.”