42-year-old Justin Verlander lights up radar gun for SF Giants against Pirates

The SF Giants are taking on the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night and starting pitcher Justin Verlander absolutely lit up the radar gun by touching 98 miles per hour which is remarkable when one considers he is 42 years old.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Verlander put away former Giant Joey Bart with 98 MPH fastball to strike him out and end the inning. The pitch before that was also 98 MPH which shows that he has impressive velocity in the tank when he needs it.

Justin Verlander lights up radar gun for SF Giants vs. Pirates

It was an impressive display from Verlander even if he did take a bit of a spill off the mound in the following inning. The game will always humble you even if you defy Father Time by throwing absolute gas in your 40's.

On the day, Verlander delivered five strong innings for the Giants. He allowed one run which was not earned because of an error, and he struck out four batters while walking one and allowing three hits. After earning his first win with the team a few weeks ago, Verlander has looked much stronger on the mound.

On the season, Verlander now has a 4.34 ERA on the year. It has been a bit of an anomaly why Verlander has struggled with the Giants for much of the year because his velocity has been there and his stuff still seems to have good break and movement on it.

The Giants made Verlander available to other teams ahead of the trade deadline, but it seems there was not much interest in the future Hall of Famer. Maybe with how he has looked the last few weeks there will be some teams regretting that they did not make a move for him.

The Giants are still alive in the playoff race even if it would take something special to snag a spot in the playoffs. As long as they are, the Giants will keep on sending Verlander out there hoping he can continue to build upon this stellar form he has.

However, if the Giants do fall off and are out of the running they could move Verlander to a bullpen role. He has high velocity so maybe it would make sense to have him as a relief option.

For now though, the Giants have to love seeing their veteran pitcher throwing hard and giving the team a chance to win with his starts.

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