What we learned as Justin Verlander finishes season on high note in Giants win

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants didn’t do much to help Justin Verlander’s pursuit of 300 wins, but in what might be his final start in orange and black, they at least found a way to reward another strong performance. It wasn’t easy, though. Verlander’s six innings were backed by a Casey Schmitt homer as the Giants held on to beat the Colorado Rockies 4-3 to get to 80-81 on the season. The victory was Verlander’s 266th in the big leagues, which moved him into a tie for 37th all-time. He finished 4-11 on the season.Verlander’s year was defined in part by a lack of run support and help from the bullpen. He entered his final start with just one win across his 11 quality starts this season and only 2.34 runs of support in those games. On Saturday, he gave the Giants another quality start. They gave him four runs to work with, but that was enough.  Ryan Walker had already blown three of Verlander’s potential wins this year, but he was given an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on a double by Rafael Devers that got past a diving Brenton Doyle in center field. That disappeared right away on a homer by Jordan Beck.After...