After eight decisions and four months of waiting San Francisco Giant veteran right hand pitcher Justin Verlander picks up his first win of the 2025 season against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Field in Cobb County on Wed Jul 23, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The San Francisco Giants had a second winning game in a row with a great offensive effort beating the Atlanta Braves 9-3. They went into the seventh inning leading 9-0 but gave up three runs.

Three appeared to be their lucky number today scoring three runs in each of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. The best news of all Justin Verlander finally got his first win of the season after 17 starts. Rafael Devers had two home runs in the game.

The game had a quiet start through the first four innings. Both teams had opportunities to score in those innings but going into the fifth inning neither team had crossed home plate. It all turned around for the Giants in the fifth inning.

Devers got the team cooking hitting a solo home run taking a 1-0 lead and there was more to come. Willy Adames was hit by a pitch followed by a Matt Chapman two run home run and going into the sixth inning San Francisco had taken a 3-0 lead.

Three looked to be the lucky number for the Giants in this game. In the sixth inning Patrick Bailey doubled, Heliot Ramos singled and Devers hit his second home run of the game and just like that another three runs for San Francisco and a 6-0 lead.

What transpired in the seventh inning was just crazy but the way this game was going predictable. There was another base runner for the Giants when Chapman was hit by a pitch. Mike Yastrzemski walked and San Francisco had runners on first and second.

Casey Schmitt grounded out and the runners advance to second and third with the one out. Smith singled Chapman home for the first run of the inning. Patrick Bailey grounded out and Yastrzemski scored for the second run.

They added a third when Luis Matos singled Smith home. Three runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings set up the win in this game for San Francisco leading 9-0 going into the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Braves were far behind the eight ball going into the seventh inning but they did give it a go scoring three runs in the inning. Neither team scored in the final two innings: the final score was 9-3 in favor of the Giants.

It was a great offensive game for San Francisco. They had scored 19 run in the last two games of this series. This team had really bounced back. The best news of all was the first win of the season for pitcher Verlander.

He had to wait through 17 games until today’s game. He went six innings, gave up a single hit, and strangely five walks. He had three strikeouts and finally got the monkey off his back going forward.

Game notes: Wednesday afternoon the Giants beat the Braves in game three of their series. Justin Verlander picked up his first win for 2025. It was such a long time waiting but Verlander was able to break through.

The Giants will now head home after a great series in Atlanta to take on the New York Mets after a day off Thursday. For Friday night at Oracle Park in San Francisco the Mets starter will start Clay Holmes with a 8-5 win/loss record and a 3.48 ERA for the Giants RHP Logan Webb (9-7 ERA 3.08). First pitch for this game is scheduled for 7:15 PM PT as the Giants will be looking to continue their current streak.