PHOENIX -- Justin Verlander did not pick up a victory in his start Wednesday afternoon.

This is a recorded announcement. It will be played on a loop. The white zone is for loading and unloading only. Please pick up the nearest courtesy phone for assistance. Para Español, oprima el ocho.

Verlander made his 27th start in a San Francisco Giants uniform when he took the mound against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. He has received a winning decision in exactly three of them. The 42-year-old future Hall of Famer anticipated from the start of spring training that his march to the 38 victories he needed for 300 would traverse multiple seasons. He could not have anticipated so many swollen creeks along the way.

If Verlander doesn't get to the magic 300 mark, a milestone that appears unreachable to present and future generations of players given the game's adaptation in starting pitcher usage, then there might be times when he mentally thumbs through all the games when a bullpen failed to protect his decision or all the games when the run support was nonexistent. He might think of the games when a late lead slipped on his watch, too.

In those moments, maybe it'd be most affirming to forget the rest and conjure memories of this late-September start for a flawed team clinging to postseason hope. Because while Verlander received no decision, his contribution to a vital victory couldn't have been more decisive.

Verlander shut out the Diamondbacks through seven innings and allowed the Giants safe passage on an afternoon when they didn't get a runner into scoring position until they were placed one to begin the 10th inning. The glacial Giants broke out in the 11th when Jerar Encarnacion hit an RBI single to center and Christian Koss hit a two-run double as they seized a 5-1 victory and avoided getting swept in this three-game series.

It will take a confluence of unlikely events for the Giants to control their destiny again in the NL wild card standings. It will be more uphill than ever for Verlander, given his lack of advancement on the 300-win mark this season, to achieve a milestone that has long been viewed as a turnstile to Cooperstown.

Except Verlander, even at his age, has never appeared more in control of his own destiny.

Verlander did not make news in his postgame session with reporters when he said that he wanted to pitch again next season. He's made that desire known from the day he signed his one-year, $15 million contract. But for the first time, and following a miserable first half, he expressed confidence that he'll be given the chance.

"I would hope that somebody would offer me a contract now," Verlander said. "I've kind of shown I can turn it around and still pitch at a high level."

Verlander is pitching near his peak form now. He has a 2.17 ERA in 11 starts since the All-Star break. He has allowed one run or fewer in eight of those outings. He did something Wednesday that he didn't achieve even during his three Cy Young Award-winning seasons for the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros: he posted his fourth consecutive start allowing one run or fewer. According to ESPN researcher Sarah Langs, Roger Clemens (in 2005) is the only other pitcher in major league history aged 42 or older to meet that criteria over a four-start span.

It would be an impressive run no matter what Verlander's first half looked like. It's even more meaningful for him to be pitching this well this late in the year after he was 0-8 with a 4.99 ERA in late July.

"I can only remember a few (years) that went the way you want from start to finish," Verlander said. "I can also recall a few that were very difficult for most of the year, this being one of those. It's a relentlessness to find your way out of it and never give in and always adapt that has helped me tremendously. I'd like to finish strong. I've got a couple more left. In a weird way, it's a bit more vindicating because you put in that much work every day."

Maybe the Giants, who saw the minimally effective version of Verlander up close for three months, won't be the most likely destination for him next season. Then again, when Buster Posey signed Verlander in December, the Giants' president of baseball operations mused about the right-hander winning his 300th game in a Giants uniform. And the Giants will be in active pursuit of rotation help this offseason. So the door would appear to be open for a return. How seriously the Giants pursue Verlander relative to other interested teams? That'll be the determining factor.

For now, Verlander is very much part of their fabric. From the day he arrived in spring camp, he's been far more than an accomplished and well-compensated mercenary. His teammates have praised him and remarked on how invested he's been in their success.

Verlander was among the players who took the floor in a clubhouse meeting last Friday after the Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers on Patrick Bailey's walk-off grand slam and pulled within a half-game of the New York Mets for the last wild-card spot. Verlander told the group that he didn't care about the credit in the box score. Individual goals are meaningless when a team is determined to achieve a goal together. He just wants to win. And he's starting to resemble the near-impenetrable pitcher who nobody wanted to face in all those postseason series.

"We've been a streaky team all year," Verlander said. "When we're on a hot streak, we can roll through anybody and win a lot of games very quickly. I sure would like for that to happen right now and see what shakes out."

When everything was going wrong in the first half, Verlander never stopped experimenting between starts. He'd even pick up a baseball after getting knocked out early and throw it against the wall, hoping to find something in his grip or mechanics. A little more than a month ago, a light bulb went off during a side session and he unlocked more vertical break on his slider. With a few other tweaks, he achieved the deception that had eluded him while hitters took too many comfortable swings in the first half.

"In any walk of life, when you put in that much work into something and that much care and effort, it's nice to be able to reap some reward of that," Verlander said. "For me, it was one of the more frustrating, if not the most frustrating first four months of the season in my career. But ... you don't get to this point in your career and have been around this long without adapting and always trying to find it when things aren't right."

"All the pitching numbers are up," Giants manager Bob Melvin said. "Maybe not the best (velocity) today, but his delivery is more sound. He knows where everything's going. He's using all his pitches. He's got three different breaking balls now, he has the changeup, usually there's a few more strikeouts. It's shocking that he walked two batters because he hasn't walked anybody. But he's pitching with a lot of confidence and he knows that we need him.

"Guys like that step up when you need them."

Verlander and the rest of the Giants pitchers are realizing that center fielder Drew Gilbert is there when they need him. Gilbert took a perfect jump and route to catch a deep drive and save a run in the fifth inning. He had eight putouts, two short of matching Willie Mays' franchise record for a nine-inning game, and only a couple of them were ultra-routine. He didn't even have to leave his feet to catch any of them.

"I gotta be honest, when I first looked up and saw where he was playing, I didn't think he was gonna catch it," "Verlander said of Jake McCarthy's deep drive with a runner on first base in the fifth. "It was a great route, a great read. He made some great plays."

The Giants had to play flawless because their batters went 15 consecutive innings without advancing anyone into scoring position. After Wilmer Flores touched second base during his home run trot in the third inning Tuesday night, the Giants didn't threaten for the duration of their crippling loss. Then the first nine innings came and went against right-hander Brandon Pfaadt, who allowed his only hit when Gilbert singled in the sixth. When the grounds crew dragged the dirt at Chase Field, they might have thought to bring a can of lemon-scented Pledge with them to dust off second and third.

Pfaadt became one of just 18 pitchers in modern major league history, and the first in more than a decade, to complete nine shutout innings, allow one hit or fewer and not receive credit for a victory. Cleveland's Carlos Carrasco was the last pitcher to suffer that fate, in 2015.

The Diamondbacks had the winning run at third base in the ninth inning after Corbin Carroll's one-out triple off Ryan Walker. But Walker struck out pinch hitter Adrian Del Castillo, and unlike a night earlier, a bases-loaded dribbler didn't get past Walker as he threw for an inning-ending forceout.

When a Giants player finally stood on second base for the first time Wednesday, it was because Commissioner Rob Manfred put him there. Pinch runner Grant McCray was the automatic runner to start the inning. McCray did not score. But neither did Arizona's placed runner. Giants right-hander Joel Peguero got two ground outs to strand the winning run at third base in the 10th and then, after the Giants went ahead, he pitched a stress-free 11th.

Peguero, who was credited with the win, certainly contributed to it. Unofficially, there was credit to go around. The pitcher win is the most utterly flawed statistic in the record books. There are so many better ways to measure a pitcher's value to his team -- and to himself.

"The results are what you see," Verlander said. "I'm glad I didn't give up."

A resurgent Justin Verlander gives the Giants, and himself, a chance to keep going