The Giants didn’t lack in the hit department, but they hit into three double plays in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings that stifled rallies.

The first run Verlander allowed came on a homer from Matt McClain on a hanging slider that he “wished I had back,” and the second one came on a two-strike curveball to De La Cruz that got him off balance, but still found a hole on the right side for an RBI single.

Justin Verlander has seen just about everything this game has to offer over the past 20 years, good and bad. But he probably has never before been on a team that struck out 17 times in one game and just once the next time out.