ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 Justin Verlander had good reason to fear the worst when rain began to fall at Truist Park on Wednesday, sending fans scurrying for cover in the fifth inning when he still needed three outs to qualify for his elusive first win in a Giants uniform.<\/p>\n
San Francisco led 3-0 when the 42-year-old Verlander was forced to consider if bad luck again would extend a winless streak that already ranked as the longest in a season in Giants history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know. I figured something like that would happen,\u201d Verlander said. \u201cThis would be the game that gets rained out or we have a two-hour delay and they don\u2019t let me go back out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, there was no delay. Verlander pitched through the light rain to complete the fifth inning of San Francisco\u2019s 9-3 win<\/a> over the Atlanta Braves. He allowed only one hit and overcame five walks, including three in the first inning, to throw five scoreless innings.<\/p>\n Following the game, teammates who had been pulling for the three-time Cy Young Award winner\u2019s first win of the season placed a bottle of Verlander\u2019s favorite wine at his locker.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d said Matt Chapman, whose two-run homer in the fifth helped put Verlander in position for the win. \u201cWe\u2019ve wanted so badly to get him that first win.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked how he would celebrate it, Verlander said, \u201cI\u2019ll probably have a little bit of that (wine).\u201d<\/p>\n The win was more than a personal drought-breaker for Verlander. It gave the Giants the series win after Tuesday night\u2019s 9-0 victory<\/a> ended a six-game losing streak.<\/p>\n \u201cThe division is still not out of reach,\u201d Chapman said of the NL West race. The Giants are third in the division and began the day 2 1\/2 games out of an NL wild-card spot.<\/p>\n Verlander (1-8) was winless in his first 16 starts, the longest stretch by a Giants pitcher in a single season in franchise history. The right-hander finalized a $15 million, one-year deal<\/a> with San Francisco in January and missed one month with a strained right pectoral muscle<\/a> early in the season.<\/p>\n He took a 4.99 ERA into Wednesday\u2019s game but had received only 26 total runs from Giants hitters in his 16 starts.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a tough stretch for me, physically and on the mound a bit,\u201d Verlander said.<\/p>\n The nine-time All-Star was in danger of not surviving the first inning. Thanks to the three walks, Verlander needed 40 pitches to make it through the inning, which ended with a fly ball to the warning track in center field by Michael Harris II.<\/p>\n Giants manager Bob Melvin already was considering bringing a reliever into the game.<\/p>\n \u201cTo get through the first was huge for us,\u201d Melvin said, adding that Verlander\u2019s first win was \u201cgreat.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew it every time he goes out there,\u201d Melvin said. \u201cGuys try extra hard and for some reason it hadn\u2019t worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n Chapman was hit by a pitch on his left elbow in the seventh inning. Melvin said X-rays were negative.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n