SAN FRANCISCO — It’s sounding like a broken record.
Justin Verlander, once again, put himself in position to win his first game as a Giant. He pitched six innings and allowed two runs, both on a pair of solo homers by Corbin Carroll. He recorded his fourth quality start in his last five outings, posting a 2.76 ERA over this stretch as baseball’s oldest player.
By night’s end, he remained winless. Manager Bob Melvin’s new lineup couldn’t figure out Merrill Kelly and Verlander picked up his third loss as the Giants fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2-1, on Monday night at Oracle Park, extending their losing streak to four games.
Verlander pitched a scoreless first inning, albeit one that required an assist from Oracle Park’s architecture.
With Corbin Carroll on first, Josh Naylor hit a line drive to Triples Alley. Right fielder Mike Yastrzemski took an awkward route and was unable to make the catch. Carroll, one of baseball’s fastest players, easily crossed home plate, but the ball wedged under the right-center field fence.
Jung Hoo Lee raised his arms to signal that the ball got stuck, and Naylor ended up with a ground-rule double, forcing Carroll to retreat to third base. Two pitches later, Eugenio Suárez hit into an inning-ending groundout.
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Carroll manufactured the game’s first run in the third with an opposite-field solo homer to give the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead, then hit another solo homer in the top of the fifth inning to put the Giants in a 2-0 deficit.
Christian Koss sliced the deficit in half in the bottom half of the fifth, driving in Willy Adames with a single to reduce the deficit to 2-1, but that would be the extent of San Francisco’s offense.
