Giants' sixth-inning Verlander decision backfires in loss to Phillies

Giants' sixth-inning Verlander decision backfires in loss to Phillies originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

PHILADELPHIA — On the first night of this Giants road trip, Robbie Ray picked up a win despite pitching just four innings, a rarity that was possible only because the game was called early when a storm arrived. On the first night in Philadelphia, Landen Roupp gave up three runs in the first and nearly got knocked out, but he walked away with the win after the Giants rallied.

This is a fun time to be a Giants starting pitcher, and the rotation already has seven wins during this surprisingly strong start. But somehow the winningest active pitcher in baseball still is looking for his first in orange and black. 

Justin Verlander picked up his first decision as a Giant, but it was a loss after a shaky sixth inning put the Giants behind for good. They fell 6-4 to the Philadelphia Phillies, and it was easy to pinpoint where the game turned. 

With the Giants leading 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Verlander gave up back-to-back one-out singles. Randy Rodriguez, who has been as good as any reliever in the NL early on, was warming up, but manager Bob Melvin stuck with Verlander. 

A catchable fly ball to left field tied the game. Two batters later, Alec Bohm lined a 95-mph fastball onto the grass to bring the go-ahead run home. Melvin said repeatedly after the loss that he wanted to give Verlander a shot to finish and get out of the jam. 

“I wanted to give him a chance there,” Melvin said. “The inning before was probably his best inning.”

Verlander was at 84 pitches after a 1-2-3 fifth. In his mind, there was no doubt about what was ahead. 

“If I’m at 84 through five, that should be my inning,” Verlander said of the sixth. 

The decisions came when the Phillies threatened right away in the sixth. Melvin stuck with Verlander against J.T. Realmuto, who already had homered, and for a moment it appeared that would pay off. Realmuto hit a fly ball to left that was in the air for 5.6 seconds, but Heliot Ramos was playing all the way over in the gap in left-center. That’s where the Giants have played Realmuto all series, and that’s exactly where his homer went. 

The fly ball, though, landed much closer to the line. Ramos ran 108 feet, but his slide came up short. 

“I thought I had it. I was playing in the gap and I tried my best,” Ramos said. “The wind took it. I didn’t know what to do right there.”

The single tied the game, and Max Kepler followed with a liner to short that nearly led to an inning-ending double play. Again, Melvin had a decision to make, but he stuck with Verlander. His 104th pitch was knocked into left for a fourth Phillies run, and the Giants never caught up. 

“The decision was after Kepler lined out,” Melvin said. “The ball that falls in left field, he makes a good pitch and it just ended up falling. It was after the Kepler at-bat that I had a decision to make and I gave him one more guy.”

Verlander ended up getting charged with four runs on eight hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings. He’ll carry a 6.75 ERA into his next start, although the peripheral numbers say he has pitched much better than that. Verlander has a 4.75 FIP and 4.52 xFIP, but it’s hard to lean on expected statistics too much when you’re still waiting to join the early-season party.

“You find yourself in a situation where the team gives you a chance to win and then you give up a couple singles that aren’t really well-struck, and the wheels kind of fall off a little bit. It’s tough. It’s tough,” Verlander said. “I’m just being tested here. I’m not sure why I’m being tested so hard, but I’ll keep working hard and trying to make my pitches.

“I’ll do everything I can do and just try to make pitches and try to get guys not to hit the ball hard and let the results happen.”

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