The San Francisco Giants have been playing good baseball as of late, and on Tuesday, they extended their winning streak to three games after taking a 5-2 win over the Chicago Cubs. For the Giants, it was Justin Verlander who starred for them on Tuesday, as the veteran managed to bounce back from his disastrous start in his previous time out on the mound, allowing just two runs on seven hits and two walks (against five strikeouts) in six innings of work.
This victory was a milestone of sorts for Verlander in a career already filled with them, as this was the first time that he took the win in Oracle Park, the Giants' home. Prior to the 2025 season, he's only pitched in Oracle Park twice, once in the regular season all the way back in 2008, and once during the World Series in 2012, when Verlander and his Detroit Tigers were swept in convincing fashion.
For Verlander, while winning for the first time in the Giants' home is something to celebrate, he still regrets not being at his best on October 24, 2012 in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series — a game in which he allowed five runs in just four innings of work in a poor performance for one of the league's best pitchers at the time.
“No offense. But I wish I had one [win in Oracle Park] in 2012,” Verlander said following the Giants' win, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area.
Justin Verlander is turning it around for the Giants
The misery was piling on for Verlander to begin the 2025 season with the Giants. Just to put in perspective how trying this season has been for the nine-time All-Star, it took him until his 17th start of the season (in July) to earn his first win of the season.
In fact, 12 of the 22 starts Verlander made prior to Tuesday night came at home, and he ended up taking the loss on six of those occasions. Moreover, the Giants won just three of his starts prior to his milestone of a victory on Tuesday; this is how bad things have gotten for Verlander in San Francisco.
Be that as it may, Verlander is at least pitching at a respectable level for the Giants, and he would have had a better August had it not been for some execution woes during his previous start against the Padres. On the year, Verlander has an ERA of 4.55 in 116.2 innings of work.
