Verlander ends first half without win as SF Giants blown out by Phillies

SAN FRANCISCO Justin Verlander held up his end of the bargain Verlander pitched as well as he has all season on Wednesday afternoon against the Philadelphia Phillies He generated whiffs his second-most in a challenge this season He struck out seven batters and walked none He averaged mph with his four-seam fastball his highest average velocity since April He minimized soft contact his one true mistake being the solo home run he allowed to Bryce Harper In sum Verlander pitched well enough to completely earn his first win of the season his first win as a Giant Instead Verlander will go into the All-Star break with no victories and seven losses after allowing four runs two earned over six innings as the Giants were blown out - by the Phillies Verlander appeared to make a mechanical tweak against the Phillies one he alluded to following his outing against the Athletics last Friday Instead of keeping his right hand in his glove at the top of his leg kick Verlander instead raised his glove to neck-level while keeping his right hand near his chest The right-hander began his afternoon by retiring the top of the Phillies lineup in order striking out Kyle Schwarber and Harper swinging with a pair of beautiful curveballs On Verlander s th pitch of the afternoon he touched mph with a four-seam fastball his fourth-hardest pitch of the season Alec Bohm led off the top of the second with a softly hit grounder to the infield s left side Third baseman Matt Chapman charged hard barehanded the ball and fired a throw to first First baseman Wilmer Flores lunged for the short hop but was unable to pick the throw which rolled out of play and allowed Bohm to advance to second Verlander nearly worked around the error but J T Realmuto gave the Phillies a - lead on a single that drove in Bohm Two innings later Verlander allowed an opposite-field homer to Harper that doubled Philadelphia s lead to - Verlander allowed two more runs in the sixth one earned one unearned before his afternoon ended with the Giants trailing - Related Articles With unicorn-esque pitch in tow undrafted SF Giants prospect Trent Harris heading to Futures Match SF Giants walk off Phillies on Bailey s inside-the-park homer Willie Mays trophies World Series ring up for charity auction later this SF Giants season How SF Giants Rodr guez turned new slider grip into first All-Star selection SF Giants open big homestand with - win over Phillies The ballgame went off the rails in the top of the eighth inning as the Phillies put up seven runs six of which were charged to right-hander Tristan Beck Trailing by runs in the top of the ninth manager Bob Melvin summoned outfielder Mike Yastrzemski to spell the bullpen and pitch an inning Yastrzemski allowed two runs in relief the highlight of his outing being when he almost drilled Schwarber in the head with a knuckleball Giants set rotation for Dodgers series The Giants officially set their probables for their upcoming three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend Friday Dustin May vs Logan Webb Saturday Shohei Ohtani vs Landen Roupp Sunday Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs Robbie Ray Hayden Birdsong would ve been in line to start against Los Angeles after pitching on Sunday against the Athletics but the Giants will skip the -year-old s turn and have him available to pitch out of the bullpen Birdsong will return to the rotation following the All-Star Break Birdsong has struggled with his command as of late In his last three starts Birdsong has totaled walks to strikeouts over innings ERA