BOX SCORE
SAN FRANCISCO — Just swept by a division rival? Here’s a four-game series against the worst team in baseball.
The Giants (19-13) could not have asked for a better matchup as they looked to get back on track and avoid their first three-game losing streak of the 2025 MLB season.
However, they didn’t take advantage of it.
Justin Verlander, in search of his first win with San Francisco, toed the rubber against Colorado Rockies (6-25) lefty Kyle Freeland (ND, 6 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K), and came close to notching that elusive first victory before a late-game bullpen collapse helped extend San Francisco’s losing streak to three games.
Here are three observations from the Giants’ 4-3 loss to the Rockies:
Unc Still Got It
Ownage was a theme early on Thursday night, and it started with the man on the mound for the Orange and Black.
Verlander (ND, 6 1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, BB, 4 K) was 3-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 39 2/3 innings pitched in six career starts against Colorado before Thursday’s outing.
While his 2025 season, on the surface, has been a bit of a mixed bag thus far, the 42-year-old has been rather unlucky at times. Verlander’s expected ERA (xERA) prior to Thursday’s start was 3.90, nearly a full run lower than what his initial ERA (4.70) was.
This was the third consecutive start Verlander surrendered two or fewer runs in at least six innings of work, and it’s clear the future Hall of Famer has turned a corner and is pitching like the consistent innings-eater the Giants hoped he could be.
Verlander departed with one out in the top of the seventh, and walked off the field to a well-deserved standing ovation before his bullpen blew an opportunity in the top of the eighth for him to secure his first win with the Giants.
Heating Up At The Right Time?
It was a very slow start to the season for Willy Adames, but there are signs of life.
The veteran shortstop is batting .304/.414/.478 with one home run, four RBI and five walks over his last seven games and looks much more confident at the plate.
San Francisco still managed to start the season off strong despite Adames’ early struggles, and if the player with the largest contract in franchise history is turning things around, as evidenced by a 2-for-4 night at the plate on Thursday, it should bode very well for the Giants’ middling offense.
The same can be said for Heliot Ramos, who, similarly to Adames, had been struggling, but is batting .318/.444/.591 with two homers in his last seven games, including a 112.8-mph rocket off his bat in the top of the first that gave the Giants an early lead.
Streak Snapped
It’s no secret the Giants have the Rockies’ number in recent years. And that’s putting it lightly.
Since the beginning of the 2021 season, San Francisco is 27-6 against Colorado at Oracle Park and had won 12 consecutive home games against its division opponent before Thursday’s loss.
The 27-6 record against the Rockies also is the best home record by any team against a division opponent since 2021.
Despite the series-opening loss, beating up on the lowly Rockies should continue to be a theme this season.
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