The Giants are a .500 team, but they haven't played .500 baseball since April. This Padres series shouldn't be that important but it is.

BOTTOM LINE: The San Francisco Giants host the San Diego Padres on Monday to open a three-game series. San Francisco is 59-59 overall and 29-28 at home. The Giants have a 33-18 record in games when they did not give up a home run.

San Francisco’s Justin Verlander became just the 10th Major League Baseball pitcher to notch 3,500 strikeouts, adding another milestone moment to his resume in the Giants’ 8-0 loss to the Washington Nationals. Verlander struck out three in the first inning to reach 3,500 for his career, but things went downhill from there for the home team.

"I'm frustrated that our fans come out and support us every night and we gave them literally nothing today," Giants manager Bob Melvin said.

Brad Lord pitched six effective innings to earn his first career victory as a starter, and the Washington Nationals beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2