Verlander roughed up, offense shut out as SF Giants open second half with loss
Even without a single win to his name, Justin Verlander had reason to be optimistic heading into the All-Star break. He made a mechanical tweak ahead of his final start of the first half and turned in his best start as a Giant.
Verlander’s first start of the second half, then, was a step backwards.
The 42-year-old Verlander turned in one of his shortest starts of the year as the Giants (52-46) lost to the Toronto Blue Jays 4-0 on Friday night at Rogers Centre, allowing four runs and recording just five outs.
“It was more put away with two strikes,” manager Bob Melvin told reporters in Toronto. “Typically, he’s got something to get a swing and miss. Didn’t get any strikeouts. He limited the damage for the amount of baserunners he had there in less than three innings, but a couple key hits off of him and just really didn’t have a put away pitch today.”
Through 16 starts, Verlander owns a 0-8 record with a 4.99 ERA. With Verlander failing to complete three innings, right-hander Tristan Beck saved the bullpen by throwing 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
The Giants totaled 10 hits off Blue Jays’ (56-41) starter Chris Bassitt, but Bassitt ended his night with 6 1/3 scoreless innings as San Francisco went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. San Francisco ended the night with 11 hits but no runs, the first time the team has done that since Aug. 24, 1959 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Giants’ inability to score off Bassitt was partially a product of some poor batted ball luck. With two on and two out in the third, Matt Chapman hit a 106.2 mph line drive directly at Toronto left fielder Joey Loperfido to end the inning. In the sixth, Willy Adames lined out to third baseman Will Wagner with a runner on third.
While the Giants did have a couple “at ’em balls,” they repeatedly failed to deliver with runners in scoring position throughout the night.
Rafael Devers and Dominic Smith hit into double plays in the first and second innings, respectively, which neutralized potential big innings. San Francisco knocked Bassitt out of the game with one out in the seventh on a pair of singles by Smith and Patrick Bailey, but Blue Jays reliever Brendon Little entered and struck out both Luis Matos and Heliot Ramos swinging to end the threat.
“They got three big hits. We didn’t get any,” Melvin said. “A couple double plays early in the game kind of take the wind out of your sails a little bit. We continue to put up some pretty good at-bats up, but you got to get hits with runners in scoring position. At times, that’s been a big issue for us.”
Devers, despite the double play, had a single (106.5 mph) and a double (104.6 mph). The three-time All-Star is very acclimated to Rogers Centre after spending nine seasons with the Boston Red Sox, entering play with a 1.006 OPS in Toronto.
The Blue Jays struck for four runs in the bottom of the second inning, sending 10 batters to the plate and forcing Verlander to throw 33 pitches. Loperfido began the scoring with an RBI double, then Wagner followed up with his own double that drove in two. Nathan Lukes drove in a run with a single, giving Toronto a commanding 4-0. That would remain the score for remainder of the night.
Injury notes
- Infielder/outfielder Jerar Encarnacion (left oblique strain) is transferring his rehab from the Arizona Complex League to Triple-A Sacramento. He’ll play in the field for the River Cats on Friday.
- Infielder Christian Koss (left hamstring strain) remains rehab only. He is performing full baseball activities. He will likely start playing rehab games next week.
- Left-hander Erik Miller (left elbow sprain) will start a rehab throwing program tomorrow in Arizona.