Justin Verlander nearly inched closer to the 300-win milestone he’s chasing in the twilight of his MLB career.
The 42-year-old was in line for his first Giants win on Sunday against the Angels before San Francisco closer Ryan Walker surrendered four earned runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, sealing Los Angeles’ 5-4 walk-off victory.
Verlander has a long way to go to reach the exclusive milestone and is trying to prove he still has Father Time on his side. Sunday’s impressive outing was a small piece of evidence that he just might.
The veteran righty tossed six innings of one-run ball with two walks and six strikeouts on 98 pitches. Outside of a 33-pitch bottom of the fourth inning, Verlander was excellent.
“I felt better about it,” Verlander told reporters after the game, which he left with a 3-1 lead. “I feel like I’ve been turning in the right direction, and it was nice to give us a better chance to win today.”
Sunday’s loss ended a 10-day, three-city road trip for the Giants, who posted a 5-5 record against the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and the Angels. Manager Bob Melvin lauded Verlander for pitching well Sunday but acknowledged Walker experienced a rare bad outing, spoiling what could have sent San Francisco home on a happy flight after Sam Huff’s two-run homer and Willy Adames’ two-RBI day.
“Just a little off from the very beginning,” Melvin told reporters of Walker’s performance. “He gets the punch-out and now you feel pretty good about him getting out of the inning, but I think that’s the first runs he’s given up all year, so you’re going to have some bad days.
“Unfortunately it happened today.”
San Francisco (14-8) now heads back to Oracle Park for a seven-game homestand against the Milwaukee Brewers (12-10) and Texas Rangers (13-9).
