Why top Giants prospect Bryce Eldridge draws inspiration from Max Scherzer

SAN FRANCISCO – After getting plenty of swing-and-misses from the Baltimore Orioles through the early part of his outing Sunday, Giants starter Justin Verlander opted to pitch more to contact as his afternoon was ending.With a pitch count that had risen like a good tech stock, Verlander didn’t have much other choice.“Toward the end there I was really just making pitches and trying to put the ball in play, and still got a lot of foul balls,” Verlander said after throwing 121 pitches over five scoreless innings in a 13-2 win over Baltimore in the final game of San Francisco’s homestand at Oracle Park. “You could definitely tell there was a little hit of fatigue setting in, but overall everything felt fine physically. Just tried to tone things down a little bit and tried to force some contact.”Verlander looked a lot more like the pitcher with three Cy Young Awards at home rather than the guy whose first Giants season has had more ups and downs than an elevator.Against the Orioles, Verlander had a day for the record books.With 10 strikeouts, the 42-year-old became the oldest pitcher in franchise history to reach double-digit K’s, a title...