SF Giants inch closer to elimination as Cardinals rough up Verlander

SAN FRANCISCO One event closer to elimination Justin Verlander allowed six runs four earned on nine hits over innings as the Giants - lost - to the St Louis Cardinals on Monday night at Oracle Park falling games behind the Mets and Reds for the final NL wild card spot with five games remaining San Francisco can be mathematically eliminated on Tuesday if they lose and the Mets win New York at the moment owns an - record and is tied with the Cincinnati Reds for the third and final NL wild card spot If the Giants lose on Tuesday the best they could finish - If San Francisco and New York both finish with wins the Mets own the tiebreaker after taking four of six games For Verlander this outing was a departure from his new run of excellence Over his last five starts entering play Verlander allowed just three runs over innings ERA with strikeouts When Verlander faced the Cardinals earlier this month he tossed six shutout innings with six strikeouts to no walks in a no decision Verlander s four-seam fastball velocity was noticeably down against the Cardinals On the season Verlander s average four-seam clocks in at mph On Monday Verlander was down to mph Melvin stated the -year-old might be a little bit on fumes right now and Verlander agreed that he felt a little lethargic on the mound We ve been cracking the whip pretty hard Verlander explained It s been that time of the year That takes its toll Generally I ve been feeling pretty good This is the first one where I felt like I was a little lethargic Just have to make sure I focus on my recovery this next time through and hopefully refresh Verlander added In the present day for whatever reason went out to the bullpen and started doing my stuff and just kind of feel like you re moving underwater a little bit It just doesn t feel as fresh as it does sometimes It s not the only time that ever happens It s one of those things you go out there and try to grind and make the best of it Unfortunately it didn t happen for me in the modern day Verlander would be in line to start against the Colorado Rockies in the final series of the year and the right-hander stated he would want to make a start regardless of whether the Giants are still in contention As long as I feel okay physically which I have Verlander reported It s my job 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 rd 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 following Ramos homer but the Giants scored three runs in the fourth to take a - 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 tournament in the process Two of those runs were the product of Iv n 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 Pag s with the infield in and a runner on third If Schmitt made the throw and recorded the out at the plate Verlander would ve had an opportunity to finish the fifth inning Instead Melvin went to his bullpen and Verlander s night was over I ll tell you what he still competes Melvin revealed He s on his way to potentially pitching his way out of that inning We ended up making an error and at that point in time it was time to go get him with the pitches he had You could see he was ratcheting it up another level like we ve seen him a bunch here and then unfortunately we let a run in