SAN FRANCISCO (Interstat) — In a fitting capstone to a difficult season, Justin Verlander delivered a vintage performance in his final start, and the San Francisco Giants edged the Colorado Rockies 4-3 on Saturday afternoon at Oracle Park.

The 42-year-old Verlander (4-11) earned the victory, striking out seven and allowing two runs on five hits over six innings before a crowd of 38,201. The win, the 266th of his illustrious 20-year career, tied him with Bob Feller and Eppa Rixey for 34th place on baseball’s all-time list.

The Giants’ offense was provided early by Casey Schmitt, whose three-run homer in the second inning erased an early Rockies lead and proved to be the decisive blow. The victory improved San Francisco’s record to 80-81, while Colorado fell to 43-118.

The Rockies struck first, with Hunter Goodman launching a solo home run in the top of the first inning. Brenton Doyle added another solo shot in the second, giving Colorado a 2-0 advantage.

That lead was short-lived. In the bottom of the second, Matt Chapman walked and Wilmer Flores singled ahead of Schmitt, who connected on a Kyle Freeland pitch and sent it over the center field wall for a 3-2 Giants lead.

Freeland (5-17), who took the loss, settled in after the homer, matching Verlander zero-for-zero through the middle innings. He finished with a quality start, yielding three runs on three hits over six frames while striking out four.

The game remained 3-3 until the bottom of the eighth. With two outs, Andrew Knizner walked and scored when Rafael Devers lined a double to left-center field that deflected off the glove of a diving Doyle.

Colorado made a final push in the ninth against Giants closer Spencer Bivens. Jordan Beck led off with a solo homer to center, cutting the deficit to one run. Doyle followed with a double, putting the tying run in scoring position with no outs. Yanquiel Fernández grounded out, moving Doyle to third, and Bivens intentionally walked Kyle Karros.

After Warming Bernabel struck out swinging, Bivens hit Ryan Ritter with a pitch to load the bases. But the right-hander induced Ezequiel Tovar to pop out to third baseman Matt Chapman in foul territory to end the game, securing his second save of the season.

The game-time temperature was 62 degrees, and the contest lasted 2 hours, 20 minutes. The teams will conclude their season and the three-game series on Sunday.