Justin Verlander had good reason to fear the worst when rain began to fall at Truist Park on Wednesday, sending fans scurrying for cover in the fifth inning when he still needed three outs to qualify for his elusive first win in a San Francisco Giants uniform.
San Francisco led 3-0 when 42-year-old Verlander was forced to consider whether bad luck again would extend a winless streak of 17 starts that already ranked as the longest in a season in Giants history.
“I didn’t know. I figured something like that would happen,” Verlander said. “This would be the game that gets rained out or we have a two-hour delay and they don’t let me go back out.”
Instead, there was no delay. Verlander pitched through the light rain to complete the fifth inning of San Francisco’s 9-3 win over the Atlanta Braves. He allowed only one hit and overcame five walks, including three in the first inning, to throw five scoreless innings.
Following the game, teammates who had been pulling for the three-time Cy Young Award winner’s first win of the season placed a bottle of Verlander’s favorite wine at his locker.
“It’s awesome,” said Matt Chapman, whose two-run homer in the fifth helped put Verlander in position for the win. “We’ve wanted so badly to get him that first win.”
It was Verlander’s first win since Sept. 28, when he was with the Houston Astros, and career win No. 263.
“I’ll probably have a little bit of that [wine],” Verlander said when asked how he would celebrate.
Rafael Devers, who served as the Giants’ designated hitter one day after making his debut as the starting first baseman, drove in four runs with three hits, including two home runs.
The win was more than a personal drought-breaker for Verlander. It gave the Giants the series win, outscoring the Braves 18-3 in the final two games after Tuesday night’s 9-0 victory ended a six-game losing streak.
San Francisco outscored Atlanta 18-3 to win the final two games of the series after the Braves won the opener 9-7.
“The division is still not out of reach,” Chapman said of the NL West race. The Giants are third in the division and began the day 2½ games out of an NL wild-card spot.
Verlander (1-8) was winless in his first 16 starts, the longest stretch by a Giants pitcher in a single season in franchise history. The right-hander finalized a $15 million, one-year deal with San Francisco in January and missed one month with a strained right pectoral muscle early in the season.
He took a 4.99 ERA into Wednesday’s game but had received only 26 total runs from Giants hitters in his 16 starts.
“It’s been a tough stretch for me, physically and on the mound a bit,” Verlander said.
The nine-time All-Star was in danger of not surviving the first inning. Thanks to the three walks, Verlander needed 40 pitches to make it through the inning, which ended with a fly ball to the warning track in center field by Michael Harris II.
The 40 pitches tied for Verlander’s third most in an opening inning in his career, and the most since 2014.
Giants manager Bob Melvin already was considering bringing a reliever into the game.
“To get through the first was huge for us,” Melvin said, adding that Verlander’s first win was “great.”
“We knew it every time he goes out there,” Melvin said. “Guys try extra hard, and for some reason it hadn’t worked out.”
Chapman was hit by a pitch on his left elbow in the seventh inning. Melvin said X-rays were negative.
The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report.
