SAN FRANCISCO — One game closer to elimination.
Justin Verlander allowed six runs (four earned) on nine hits over 4 1/3 innings as the Giants (77-80) lost 6-5 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night at Oracle Park, falling 3.5 games behind the Mets and Reds for the final NL wild card spot with five games remaining.
For Verlander, this outing was a departure from his recent run of excellence. Over his last five starts entering play, Verlander allowed just three runs over 31 innings (0.87 ERA) with 28 strikeouts.
When Verlander faced the Cardinals earlier this month, he tossed six shutout innings with six strikeouts to no walks in a no decision. This time around, St. Louis tagged Verlander for nine hits and constantly had traffic on the bases.
Heliot Ramos began the scoring in the bottom of the first with his fifth leadoff home run of the season, joining Bobby Bonds as the only right-handed hitter in Giants franchise history to have at least five leadoff homers in a single season. Rafael Devers also hit his 33rd home run of the season, a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth.
The Cardinals scored a run apiece in the third and fourth to take a 2-1 lead following Ramos’ homer, but the Giants scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-2 lead on an RBI single from Patrick Bailey and a two-run single from Ramos.
St. Louis responded to San Francisco’s three-run fourth with a four-run fifth, knocking Verlander out of the game in the process. Two of those runs were the product of Iván Herrera’s two-run shot that landed in the Giants’ bullpen. The two other runs followed an error by second baseman Casey Schmitt, who fumbled the transfer on a softly-hit grounder from Pedro Pagés with the infield in and a runner on third.