The San Francisco Giants ended their homestand with a historic afternoon, routing the Baltimore Orioles 13-2 at Oracle Park as Justin Verlander struck out 10 over five shutout innings. The 42-year-old right-hander threw a season-high 121 pitches, his most since 2016, to earn his third win of the year and the 265th of his career.
Verlander, now 3-10 with a 4.29 ERA, scattered three hits and four walks while recording 23 swing-and-misses, including seven strikeouts, and finished with off-speed pitches. He became the oldest pitcher to record double-digit strikeouts since Randy Johnson, who fanned 13 at age 44 in 2008. In fact, in the last 17 seasons, only two pitchers aged 42 or older have managed a 10-strikeout game, Rich Hill in 2022 at 42 years, 169 days, and now Verlander at 42 years, 192 days, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
The only others to do so at that age or beyond over the past 125 years are Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Gaylord Perry, and Johnson, placing Verlander in truly exclusive company. The outing was the 73rd time Verlander has recorded 10 or more strikeouts in a game, and his first since October 4, 2022. He raised his career strikeout total to 3,530, moving within four of Perry (3,534) for eighth place on the all-time list.
The veteran worked out of jams in nearly every inning, and in the fourth, he managed to strike out the side even as his pitch count pushed past 90. In the fifth, with runners on base, he froze Gunnar Henderson with a 93 mph fastball and later got Ryan Mountcastle to chase a changeup for his 10th strikeout, punctuating his outing with a standing ovation from the home crowd.
Verlander set the tone, and the Giants’ offense followed with 16 hits to take the series and finish the homestand at 5-1. Rafael Devers powered the attack with three hits, a homer, a double, and an RBI single, falling a triple shy of the cycle. His first-inning solo blast off Orioles starter Tomoyuki Sugano gave him 28 home runs on the season, including 13 since joining the Giants. Devers, along with Willy Adames, also became the first pair of Giants teammates to hit nine home runs in a single month since Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent in August 2002.
Rookie Drew Gilbert had his first career three-hit game, including a two-run triple in the fourth and an RBI double in the eighth, while Heliot Ramos contributed three singles. Dominic Smith added an RBI single as San Francisco piled on with three-run innings in both the sixth and eighth.
The Orioles couldn’t find their footing as Sugano (10-7) was knocked out after 3 1/3 innings, tagged for seven runs on 10 hits. The Orioles’ defense faltered as well, committing multiple errors that led the Giants’ rallies. Their lone runs came in the ninth on back-to-back doubles by Daniel Johnson and Jackson Holliday, followed by a Gunnar Henderson RBI single off reliever Spencer Bivens, who nonetheless secured his first career save with three innings of relief.
The Giants have outscored opponents 50-29 on the homestand and have stretched their home run streak to 14 straight games, their longest since 2002.
