Despite rough start, veteran SF Giants starter encouraged by how he feels physically

Justin Verlander's SF Giants career has not gotten off on the right foot. Despite entering his 20th year and with a ton of mileage on his arm, Verlander remains encouraged by how he feels physically.

Despite rough start, veteran SF Giants starter feels as good as he has in years

Verlander told a group of reporters (hat tip to KNBR for the video) after the game that this is the best he has felt in years:

At first glance, that might be hard to believe. Verlander had just allowed six runs, including five earned, to cross the plate in 5.2 frames against the Cincinnati Reds earlier on Wednesday.

The Reds tagged Verlander for five runs in the third inning. A pair of run-scoring hits by Elly De La Cruz and Gavin Lux snuck through the infield. In both instances, a Giants infielder got a glove on the ball, but was unable to reel it in. On a different day, he may have avoided the big inning altogether.

There were some encouraging sides besides how Verlander felt on the mound. He struck out nine batters for the first time since May 29, 2024. That came against the Seattle Mariners, and his ERA dropped to 3.26 through his first eight starts.

However, things spiraled from there, as Verlander battled neck and shoulder ailments. He made nine more starts after that nine-strikeout performance against Seattle, but struggled to a 7.89 ERA during that stretch.

On Wednesday, the future Hall of Famer averaged 95.2 MPH with his four-seam fastball while reaching as high as 97.9 MPH. That is several notches above his 2024 average of 93.5 MPH with his four seamer, so if his velocity is any indication, he looks to be healthy.

The Giants did manage to rally, and defeat the Reds on Wednesday by a score of 8-6. Mike Yastrzemski was the late-inning hero with a two-run blast to score Matt Chapman.

Verlander is hoping to see better results soon. So far, he has yielded 10 earned runs across 13 innings of work with San Francisco. That will need to improve, but there have been brief flashes where he has looked like the Verlander from the recent past.