SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Rafael Devers homered, doubled and drove in two runs to help Justin Verlander earn career win No. 265 as the San Francisco Giants beat the Baltimore Orioles 13-2 on Sunday to take two of three games in their series.
Verlander (3-10) struck out a season-high 10 in five shutout innings. He threw 121 pitches — his most since June 2018. He allowed three hits and walked four.
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San Francisco Giants pitcher Justin Verlander throws against the Baltimore Orioles during the first inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers and Willy Adames celebrate Devers' home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
San Francisco Giants pitcher Justin Verlander, right, blows a bubble while watching from the dugout next to manager Bob Melvin during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in San Francisco, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers (16) hits an RBI single off of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano, middle right, during the third inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
San Francisco Giants' Justin Verlander pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
The 42-year-old Verlander reached 10 strikeouts for the 73rd time and first since he had 10 against Philadelphia on Oct. 4, 2022. He tied Jim McCormick for 39th place in wins and pulled within four strikeouts of Gaylord Perry (3,534) for eighth on the career list.
Devers homered off Tomoyuki Sagano (10-7) for a 1-0 lead in the first. It was his 28th of the season and 13th for the Giants.
Drew Gilbert, Heliot Ramos and Devers had consecutive singles in the third for a two-run lead, and Willy Adames added a sacrifice fly.
Gilbert hit a two-run triple before scoring on Ramos' single for a 7-0 advantage in the fourth. Devers doubled to chase Sugano, who allowed seven runs and 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings.
Dominic Smith had an RBI single off Corbin Martin in a three-run sixth. Devers, Ramos and Gilbert each had three of the Giants' 16 hits.
Spencer Bivens allowed two runs in the ninth but pitched the final three innings for his first career save.
Devers' drive gave the Giants a homer in 14 straight games for the first time since 2002.
Devers and Adames both hit nine homers in August — the first Giants teammates with at least nine in a month since Jeff Kent (14) and Barry Bonds (10) in August 2002.
Orioles RHP Kyle Bradish (0-1, 3.00 ERA) starts Monday in San Diego opposite RHP Dylan Cease (6-11, 4.82).
Giants RHP Kai-Wei Teng (1-3, 8.78 ERA) starts Monday at Colorado against RHP Chase Dollander (2-11, 6.55).
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San Francisco Giants pitcher Justin Verlander throws against the Baltimore Orioles during the first inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers and Willy Adames celebrate Devers' home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
San Francisco Giants pitcher Justin Verlander, right, blows a bubble while watching from the dugout next to manager Bob Melvin during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in San Francisco, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers (16) hits an RBI single off of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano, middle right, during the third inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
San Francisco Giants' Justin Verlander pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was at the White House on Thursday discussing her country's future with President Donald Trump even after he publicly dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela. His administration has signaled its willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and, along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle, remains in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.
In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela and sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was expecting a positive discussion during the lunchtime meeting and called Machado “a remarkable and brave voice” for the people of Venezuela.
The White House said Machado sought the face-to-face meeting without setting expectations for what would occur. Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.
Leavitt said Trump is committed to seeing Venezuela hold elections “one day,” but wouldn’t say when that might happen.
Machado plans to have a meeting at the Senate later Thursday. Trump has called her “a nice woman” while indicating they might not touch on major issues in their talks Thursday.
Her Washington swing began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.
The White House says Venezuela has been fully cooperating with the Trump administration since Maduro’s ouster.
Rodríguez, the acting president, herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move thought to have been made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.
Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.
“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”
Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela's interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”
Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump wanted to win himself. She has since thanked Trump. Her offer to share the peace prize with him was rejected by the Nobel Institute.
Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.
The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.
A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.
Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.
Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and Janetsky from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)
