While the streaking San Francisco Giants climbed back into the playoff race, pitcher Justin Verlander added to his Hall of Fame credentials.
Verlander (3-10, 4.29 ERA) will be back at it Saturday night in the middle game of a three-game series at St. Louis. The Giants (72-69) won 8-2 Friday night for their fifth victory in a row and their 11th win in 12 games.
They remained four games behind the New York Mets and San Diego Padres in the race for the final National League wild-card spot.
The Cardinals (70-72) fell 6 1/2 games behind the Mets and Padres.
Verlander recorded his 73rd double-digit strikeout game in his last start, a 13-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday. He blanked them on three hits over five innings while striking out 10 and walking four.
“He had to grind through it probably more so, in this year, than any other start,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “You look at the line — three hits, no runs, 10 strikeouts. Pretty good.”
Verlander needed 121 pitches to get the 15 outs but earned a standing ovation from Giants fans for persevering to get his 265th career victory.
“I think [the Orioles] did a great job battling off some good pitches and fouling off a lot of stuff,” Verlander said. “I can only control what I can control. Clearly [I] was doing a decent job not allowing a lot of hard contact. I just wish I’d gotten some quicker outs. But I thought it was really cool of the fans. It did feel good.”
MLB.com notes that at 42 years and 192 days, Verlander became the oldest pitcher to strike out 10 or more batters in a game since Randy Johnson did it on Aug. 22, 2008, at the age of 44 years and 347 days.
Verlander has 3,530 career strikeouts, five short of passing Gaylord Perry (3,534) for eighth on the all-time list.
Verlander is 3-1 with a 4.80 ERA in five career starts against the Cardinals.
While he is in the twilight of his career as a starting pitcher, fellow right-hander Andre Pallante (6-13, 5.38 ERA) is still trying to establish himself as a starter with the Cardinals.
Pallante was 0-6 with an 8.67 ERA in August. He allowed five runs (two earned) on six hits and four walks in five innings in his last start, a 7-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 31.
Searching for more swings and misses, Pallante tried to use his curveball to get batters to chase. But again he struggled to command that pitch.
“He’s getting a little bit more of that swing and miss, a little bit more chase, but that’s also going to lead to some more walks until he can refine it and get to the point where he can limit the walks and keep the swings and miss,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “It goes hand in hand as he works through this.”
Pallante is 1-0 with a 5.79 ERA in six career appearances against the Giants, including two starts.
The Cardinals are playing this series without first baseman Willson Contreras, who began serving his MLB suspension for throwing his bat while arguing with umpires in an Aug. 25 game against Pittsburgh.
Contreras appealed his six-game ban and got it reduced to four games.
–Field Level Media
