Verlander throws 121 pitches, and that's enough for him to earn win No. 265

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Wins have been hard to come by for Justin Verlander this year.

This one took 121 pitches.

The 42-year-old right-hander struck out 10 in five scoreless innings Sunday, helping the San Francisco Giants to a 13-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. With the Giants leading 7-0 in the fifth, San Francisco wasn't about to remove Verlander, even as his pitch count climbed. He finally finished the top of that inning by striking out Gunnar Henderson and Ryan Mountcastle — and that allowed him to qualify for his third victory of the year.

It's the 265th win of his career.

“In a day you feel like you’re penalizing someone if they throw 100 pitches, to throw 120 in five innings, he didn’t want to hear anything about coming out of the game,” manager Bob Melvin told the San Francisco Chronicle. “There’s a lot to learn from him.”

It was the second-most pitches thrown in the majors this season. Cleveland's Gavin Williams threw 126 on Aug. 6 against the New York Mets. Williams took a no-hitter into the ninth that day.

Verlander is just 3-10 on the season, but he lowered his ERA to 4.29 on Sunday and reached double-digit strikeouts for the 73rd time in his career. He allowed three hits and four walks.

“It’s hard for me because, especially the old school in me is it’s only five innings,” Verlander said. “I’m not sure I go home and say that was a great start. End of day, I think they did a great job battling off good pitches and fouling off stuff.”

Verlander was winless in his first 16 starts for the Giants after joining them in the offseason. But now the three-time Cy Young Award winner has won two starts in a row. He also beat the Chicago Cubs earlier in the week.

This was his first 10-strikeout game since Aug. 23, 2022, when he was with Houston. The last time he threw this many pitches was June 19, 2018, when he threw 122 for the Astros against Tampa Bay.

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