CINCINNATI >> Justin Verlander would be a first-ballot Hall of Famer if he retired tomorrow. He’s done just about all there is to do for a starting pitcher in this game. Rookie of the Year. MVP. Two World Series titles. Three Cy Young Awards. But there is one major box he’s yet to check: 300 wins.

It’s improbable, without doubt; Verlander is 42-years-old, the oldest active player in baseball, and stands 38 wins away. But he showed on Saturday afternoon at Great American Ball Park that his ambitions aren’t impossible, tossing five innings of two-run ball with five strikeouts in his Giants debut. He’ll have to wait until the home opener for a chance to inch closer to history, after failing to earn a decision, unable to protect a two-run lead as the Giants lost to the Cincinnati Reds 3-2.

“Ultimately, my guys gave me a two-run lead and I would have liked to have been able to hold that,” said Verlander, the oldest pitcher to appear in a game for the Giants since 46-year-old Randy Johnson in 2009. “I usually try to take a pretty objective view of my performance — good or bad. I think this was OK. It wasn’t great, but definitely a step forward from last season.”

Performance aside, Verlander’s underlying metrics looked much more encouraging compared to last season, particularly with his four-seam fastball. Along with throwing his fastball 0.6 mph harder than a year ago, Verlander saw an uptick in his spin rate, too. Verlander averaged 2,395 RPMs (revolutions per minute) last year, but was up to 2,459 RPMs against the Reds, a noteworthy increase given that higher spin rate fastballs create more backspin and don’t drop as much as expected. His curveball also exhibited 3 more inches of horizontal movement compared to last year, a continuation of what he did in spring training.

“He looked good,” manager Bob Melvin said. “His pitch count got up after the last inning a little bit. Gives up two runs, leaves the game and we’re in a tie game, so he did his job.”

Following an excellent spring, Verlander looked as advertised in the first inning, retiring the side with two strikeouts, ending it by freezing Elly De La Cruz with a payoff curveball. He encountered a bit of trouble in the second when the Reds put runners on first and second with one out, but escaped unscathed.

By the third, Verlander’s 263rd win looked within reach. Wilmer Flores, fresh off hitting the go-ahead, three-run home run on Opening Day, hit his second homer in as many games, a line drive that scraped the left-field fence. Jung Hoo Lee, who drew two crucial walks in the season opener, collected his first hit and RBI of the year in the third, pulling a single into right field to drive in Heliot Ramos.

The two-run cushion wouldn’t last.

Verlander made his first mistake of the day in the third, hanging a curveball to Matt McClain that was sent into the left-field bleachers for a solo home run, slicing the lead to 2-1. One out away from completing the fifth inning, Verlander then allowed back-to-back hits to McClain and De La Cruz, the latter driving in the former to tie the score.

“Elly hit it in the right spot. That’s baseball,” Verlander said. “You can beat yourself up as a pitcher on many things, but if you make a pitch and the guy doesn’t hit it hard and he hits it in the right spot, you just have to tip your cap and move on. He laid off a really good slider the pitch before that. That’s what the best players in the game do.”

Following Verlander’s departure, the Reds’ Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who attended College Park High School in Pleasant Hill, hit an opposite-field solo home run off reliever Spencer Bivens to give the Reds the 3-2 lead.

Unlike Opening Day, Cincinnati wouldn’t let another lead slip away.

The Giants didn’t lack in the hit department — both teams had eight on the day — but they hit into double plays in the sixth, seventh and eighth that stifled rallies. For Melvin, the double plays weren’t about a lack of situational hitting.

“They were just balls on the ground during double play situations, which hurt us,” Melvin said. “We put the ball in play today. We only struck out one time; it was 17 on (Thursday). But the double play ball hurt us.”