Justin Verlander matches Roger Clemens feat after rough beginning with Giants

Up until a few weeks ago, the narrative of Justin Verlander’s 2025 season had been that of a once-great pitcher on a new team finally wrestling with mortality. Now, it appears he’s made progress with that fight.

The San Francisco Giants right-hander posted one of his best starts of the season on Wednesday with seven shutout innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks, with 3 hits allowed, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts in a 5-1 extra-innings win.

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One of those strikeouts was of the painful variety.

The start was the 42-year-old Verlander’s fourth straight allowing one or zero earned runs. The only other pitcher that old to post such a run: Roger Clemens in 2005, via MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.

In the span of those four starts, Verlander has lowered his season ERA from 4.47 to 3.75, a significant improvement from his 5.48 mark last year. That’s not bad considering his 2025 was going rough enough that he had to wait until late July for his first win.

Verlander’s performance was one half of a pitcher’s duel on Wednesday, which the Giants ended up winning 5-0 in the extra innings after both teams failed to score a run in regulation.

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Limiting the Giants offense was D-backs starter Brandon Pfaadt, who threw nine shutout innings but will not be credited with a shutout. Like Verlander, Pfaadt had been struggling this season, but he just trended back upward with the best performance of his career.

The win improves the Giants’ record to 76-76 and moves them to 2.5 games behind the New York Mets for the final NL wild-card spot. The D-backs are just a half-game ahead of them at 77-76.