SAN FRANCISCO – Justin Verlander was hopeful for his first win as a Giant, just coming off the paternity list on Tuesday night, but the San Francisco Giants offense couldn’t support his early-game struggles.

The last time the Giants faced Marlins starter Cal Quantrill (3-7, 5.56), they went 8-for-22, mashing two doubles, a triple, and a homerun off him at LoanDepot Park on May 30. In the series opener against Miami, the Giants offense only managed to score two runs, after exploding for nine runs on Sunday against the Boston Red Sox.

The orange and black came into Tuesday with a 44-34 record, 3.5 games behind the Dodgers in the National League West. Riding high off a series win over the Red Sox, the Giants dropped another game in the standings.

Verlander just returned from the paternity list on Tuesday after welcoming a baby boy to the world, Bellamy Brooks Verlander. In just his second start in the last month, it was the same old story–hard contact against the future Hall-of-Famer.

Although pitching well enough to keep the Giants in the game, Verlander has fallen to an 0-5 start through his first 12 starts, joining Ross Stripling (2023) and Slick Castleman (1936) as the only Giants pitchers to not win any of his first 11 or more starts of a season. 

It was a quick start for Verlander and the Giants defense in the top of the first inning as the Marlins went down in order. Giants second baseman Christian Koss made quite the play to end the inning, sliding into shallow center field with his back to the infield to rob Otto Lopez of the game’s first hit. 

After a quick first out in the top of the second inning, the marlins rallied for two runs. Kyle Stowers started the surge with a line-drive base hit to right field and eventually came around to score the game’s first run on an Eric Wagaman RBI-double. Two batters later, Connor Norby’s single to left brought home Wagaman to make it 2-0 Miami. The frame finally came to an end as Verlander struck out Dane Myers for his third K of the inning. 

The Giants looked to answer in the home fourth. Heliot Ramos became a lead-off base runner by getting plunked in the left bicep by a 92 mph Cal Quantrill heater. On the next pitch, Wilmer Flores grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to erase the progress.

A few pitches later, Jung Hoo Lee sent a hard groundball off the left ankle of Quantrill, who remained in the game, and reached base safely. He later advanced to second base after a failed pickoff attempt got by first baseman Eric Wagaman, however, the Giants bats with RISP continued to struggle. Willy Adames flew out to center field to put an end to the threat. 

Verlander set the Marlins down efficiently in the top of the fifth which allowed the offense to get right back up to the plate. Casey Schmitt got the fun started with a leadoff single to left. After a Patrick Bailey lineout, Christian Koss homered to left to bring the Giants to within one, 3-2. 

Koss got the start at second base following the demotion of Tyler Fitzgerald who had hit .128 in his last 15 games and struggled overall offensively the last month. Manager Bob Melvin mentioned pregame that the Giants were by no means giving up on Fitzgerald but wanted him to regain some confidence by taking some at bats with AAA Sacramento. There is currently no time table on his return to the big league club. 

The energy continued to build in the Oracle Park crowd as Mike Yastrzemski walked after the homerun. The next batter, Rafael Devers grounded to Miami second baseman Xavier Edwards but beat out the throw to first base to prevent the double play.

That was enough to send Marlins starter Cal Quantrill to the showers earlier than he would’ve liked, as he left the field visibly frustrated he couldn’t finish the inning. The Marlins new pitcher Anthony Bender was welcomed to the game with a Heliot Ramos double but the relay from left field was in time to nail Devers at the plate, keeping the Miami lead intact. 

Sean Hjelle replaced Verlander in the next inning as relief pitchers for both teams traded off scoreless halves in the sixth. Verlander finished with 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, and 5 K. He’ll have to wait at least another five days for his next start in Chicago to try and earn his first win as a Giant. 

The Marlins added one more to their total to extend their lead to two runs in the seventh and that would be all they needed to secure the win in game one. The Miami offense exploded for 11 hits while the Giants could only get five in the hit column, getting outhit by an opponent for the 45th time this season, going 0-for-4 with RISP. They are 6-for-50 (.120) with RISP thus far on the homestand. 

The Giants look to turn the page with ace Logan Webb taking the mound sporting a (7-5, 2.49 ERA) and two straight wins Wednesday night against the Marlins Edward Cabrera (2-2 ERA 3.81). 

First pitch for game two at 6:45 Wednesday night at Oracle Park.