SAN FRANCISCO — Justin Verlander had to experiment.
On seven occasions this year, Verlander exited a game in position to receive a win only to end up with a no-decision after his bullpen blew a lead. The Colorado Rockies were threatening to make it eight on Saturday.
Ryan Walker, who was responsible for four of those blown leads, couldn’t shut the door in the ninth. He allowed a homer to his first batter, cutting the Giants’ lead to one run, then gave up a double that put the tying run in scoring position.
As Walker departed with runners at the corners with one out, Verlander’s final start of the season — and perhaps his final start as a Giant — looked destined to end with one final no-decision.
“I just tried to stay calm,” Verlander said. “I found a different place to sit in the locker room than I had all season. I had a different brand of beer. I was doing whatever I could.”
The different seat and the different beer worked as Spencer Bivens, seldom used in high-leverage situations, doused the flames.
Bivens struck out Warming Bernabel for the inning’s second out. After plunking Ryan Ritter, he induced a game-ending pop out off the bat of Ezequiel Tovar to secure a 4-3 win. For Verlander, who allowed two runs over six innings with seven strikeouts, a year filled with frustrations ended with his 266th win of his career, tying him with Bob Feller for 34th all-time.
“I look back at some of the toughest moments in my career: core surgery, Tommy John (surgery). When I look back at those now, I look back at them really fondly,” Verlander said. “I learned so much through those processes to sustain the success that I did after those incidents took place and met people that have helped me along the way. I hope I can look back at this first half as the same type of thing.
“Maybe a few years from now, I get that 300th win and it’s like, ‘That first half that I really grinded through in San Francisco really taught me a lot and allowed me to get where I wanted to.’”
The 42-year-old Verlander ends his 20th major-league season with fine numbers: four wins, 11 losses, 29 starts, 3.85 ERA, 137 strikeouts, 152 innings. But those fine numbers fail to illustrate the tale of Verlander’s two halves.
The first three-and-a-half months of the regular season were not kind to Verlander, who joined the Giants on a one-year, $15 million deal. He not only went into the All-Star break with a 4.70 ERA but no wins to his name, making no progress in his pursuit of 300 wins.
Verlander opened up the second half by allowing four runs and recording five outs against the Toronto Blue Jays, but with the help of some mechanical tweaks, the right-hander found a formula for putting up zeros.
Beginning on July 23, the day he recorded his first win, Verlander posted a 2.60 ERA over 72 2/3 innings with 70 strikeouts in his final 13 starts. Along the way, Verlander passed Walter Johnson and Gaylord Perry on the all-time strikeouts list, currently residing in eighth place. Verlander described tying Feller on the all-time wins list as a full-circle moment, noting how he met Feller during his time at Old Dominion University.
“Obviously, you’d always rather it go well, but it’s nice to be able to turn it around, especially after a few months,” Verlander said. “It gets really draining. It’s tiresome. You just gotta come in every day and have a positive mindset and keep working hard. That relentless pursuit of finding something — or anything — to make it click paid off.”
“The longer the season went on, the better he’s pitched,” said manager Bob Melvin. “He’s found things late in the season by experimenting and being who he is and always determined, looking for something to make himself better. Not only has it been great to watch, it’s been great for all our other guys to watch, too. That started in spring training. He’s made quite the impact here.”
In the coming weeks and months, Verlander, an impending free agent, will have to decide whether his next start comes with the Giants or another franchise.
Verlander said he hasn’t had time to think about his future, noting that he’s been “scratching and clawing trying to find anything to be successful and pitch well for the San Francisco Giants.” Melvin said prior to the game that he wouldn’t be shocked if Verlander receives a two-year deal, but Verlander said he would be more inclined to take things year-by-year.
Would he consider a reunion in San Francisco?
“I’ll consider anything,” Verlander said. “I really enjoyed the guys here. Obviously, it was a tough season personally. But as far as an organization and the guys I got to play with here, it was so class. Off the field and in locker room, one of the more fun seasons I’ve ever had.”
While Verlander can go into the offseason having finished strong, it’s impossible to overlook all the wins that were left on the table due to bullpen blowups, defensive miscues or offensive mistakes.
Verlander, who will be 43 by the start of next year, doesn’t think 300 wins is out of the question even after making minimal progress this season. That said, he’s aware that hitting that milestone is now all the more difficult.
“It’s definitely harder,” Verlander said. “If you make 29 starts, you’d like to win 10-to-15 games. It wasn’t in the cards this year. But maybe this year wasn’t meant to be for wins. Maybe this year was meant to be for health and re-finding myself and getting used to taking the ball every five, six days and going out there and being able to log some innings. Maybe that’ll carry me where I need to go.”
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