CINCINNATI -- At 42, Justin Verlander is the oldest active player in the Majors, but his remarkable longevity transcends even baseball. The veteran right-hander is also the most senior active athlete in any of the four major American sports, per Elias, a distinction that speaks to his unrelenting competitiveness on the mound.
For all his accolades -- three Cy Young Awards, nine All-Star selections, two World Series rings -- Verlander continues to chase greatness. That pursuit quickly became clear to the Giants after they signed him to a one-year, $15 million deal over the offseason.
¡°When I caught veteran pitchers, I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if he had an 8.00 ERA [in Spring Training] and then came into the season and was in a really good spot still,¡± president of baseball operations Buster Posey said. ¡°But man, [Verlander] was working his tail off every single day. The competitor in him, I think, showed through even in the spring.¡±
Verlander proved he can still pitch at a high level when he took the mound for his 20th Major League season on Saturday, giving up two runs on six hits and one walk over five innings in the Giants¡¯ 3-2 loss to the Reds at Great American Ball Park.
Verlander, who became the oldest pitcher to start a game for the Giants since Hall of Famer Randy Johnson in 2009, took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the fifth, but he surrendered a game-tying single to Elly De La Cruz, which forced him to settle for a no-decision in his San Francisco debut.
The Reds quickly went ahead after Verlander exited the game, with Christian Encarnacion-Strand delivering a tiebreaking solo shot off Spencer Bivens in the bottom of the sixth to hand the Giants their first loss of the season.
¡°Look, we didn¡¯t win the game,¡± Verlander said. ¡°Ultimately, my guys kind of gave me a two-run lead, and I would have liked to have been able to hold that. But I usually try to take a pretty objective view of my performance, good or bad. I think this was OK. It wasn¡¯t great, it wasn¡¯t bad. But it¡¯s definitely a step forward from last season, I can say that.¡±
Verlander recorded a career-worst 5.48 ERA over 17 starts for the Astros in 2024, but he¡¯s determined to bounce back now that he¡¯s past the neck and shoulder injuries that hampered him last year. He certainly looked more like himself on Saturday, topping out at 95.9 mph while striking out five in the 83-pitch outing.
Verlander¡¯s only real mistake came in the third, when he hung a slider that Matt McClain drove out to left-center field to cut the Giants¡¯ lead to 2-1. He saw some encouraging results with his curveball, which now has some more horizontal movement following a minor grip change this spring.
Verlander used his curveball to freeze De La Cruz and cap a 1-2-3 first inning, though the Reds¡¯ star shortstop later bounced the same pitch through the hole to right field for his game-tying hit in the fifth.
¡°I thought it was good,¡± Verlander said. ¡°I don¡¯t think [many of the curveballs] got hard-hit today. Obviously, Elly kind of hit in the right spot. That¡¯s baseball. You can beat yourself up as a pitcher on many things, but if you make a pitch and the guy doesn¡¯t hit it hard and he hits it in the right spot, you just kind of go, ¡®He got me¡¯ and move on. He laid off a really good slider the pitch before that. That¡¯s what the best players in the game do.¡±
Wilmer Flores opened the scoring with a solo shot off Reds left-hander Nick Lodolo in the top of the second -- his second home run in as many games -- and the Giants extended their lead behind Jung Hoo Lee¡¯s RBI single in the third. Still, they couldn¡¯t keep adding on after that, as they grounded into three double plays that scuttled rallies in the sixth, seventh and eighth.
¡°We put the ball in play today,¡± manager Bob Melvin said. ¡°We only struck out one time. It was 17 [times on Thursday]. But the double-play balls hurt.¡±
A feel-good moment for the Giants came in the eighth, when Lou Trivino entered the game and worked a scoreless inning in his first Major League appearance since Oct. 22, 2022. Trivino, 33, missed the past two seasons due to injuries and Tommy John surgery, but he¡¯s healthy now and should serve as a nice veteran arm for San Francisco¡¯s bullpen moving forward.
¡°I had my fingers crossed for him,¡± Melvin said. ¡°Sometimes you can be a little amped up in those situations, but the cutter was good. The fastball was good. I¡¯m glad he got a clean inning, and now kind of on his way where it¡¯s not foreign territory to be in a big league game for him anymore.¡±