For the twelfth time in sixteen games during the 2025 MLB season, the Giants lost a Justin Verlander start.
In what has become an unfortunately common occurrence for the Giants this season, a familiar scene unfolded early in San Francisco’s 4-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night at Rogers Centre.
Verlander, the three-time Cy Young Award winner who has a spot in Cooperstown reserved for him, once again got rocked early.
Verlander escaped first-inning trouble after the Blue Jays had runners on first and second with one out, coaxing a double-play ball that allowed the Giants to return to the visiting dugout unscathed. The former MLB MVP wouldn’t be so fortunate in the second inning.
Six of the first seven batters Verlander faced in the second inning reached base, allowing Toronto to jump out to a 4-0 lead which would be more than enough with San Francisco’s anemic offense crumbling in every clutch situation they faced in Friday’s loss.
Coming off a few days to reset during the MLB All-Star break, Verlander took the mound with a chance to put a rough first half behind him and send a strong message that even at 42, he still has what it takes to dominate opposing hitters. Instead, it was much of the same in what has been an outlier season for a pitcher that will go down as one of the game’s greats when all is said and done.
Verlander didn’t record a single strikeout against the Blue Jays, the first time this season the nine-time All-Star failed to log at least one punch out during the 2025 season.
“Typically he has got something to get a swing-and-a-miss, didn’t get any strikeouts,” Giants manager Bob Melvin told reporters after Friday’s loss. “Actually, he limited the damage for the amount of base runners he had in less than three innings, but a couple key hits off him and just really didn’t have a putaway pitch today.”
Verlander’s name is one that long has been synonmous with “putaway pitch,” ranking No.10 on MLB’s all-time strikeout leader list with an eye-popping 3,483 punchouts during his decorated career.
While the lack of a putaway pitch allowed the Blue Jays to string together the game’s decisive inning, Melvin noted that the Giants’ offense hasn’t done Verlander any favors with run support this season.
“The fact we haven’t given him much run support,” Melvin said when asked why he believes Verlander can turn things around. “I mean there have been some games where we’ve been behind early on, but it would be nice…