ATLANTA >> The drought is over.

In his 17th start of the season, Justin Verlander finally won his first game as a Giant — and the 263rd of his career — by pitching around five walks to deliver five scoreless innings as San Francisco (54-49) defeated the Atlanta Braves, 9-3, on Wednesday afternoon at Truist Park.

The future Hall of Famer was supported by an offense led by Rafael Devers, who hit two homers, totaled four RBIs and recorded his hardest-hit ball of the season a day after playing his first career game at first base.

“Sometimes, when things are going well, you take wins for granted,” Verlander said. “You just go out there every five days, you’re winning most of them, you’re in the high-five line afterwards … and you’re like, ‘I did my job and we won.’ It’s been a tough stretch for me physically and on the mound a bit. So, hopefully, this gets the ball rolling in the right direction.”

This moment has been months in the making for Verlander, who didn’t record a victory in his first 16 starts of the season. That’s not just the longest winless streak of his career, but the longest by a Giants starting pitcher (not including openers) in a single season in franchise history. In the middle of that stretch, Verlander spent a month on the injured list due to right pectoral soreness.While Verlander has had his share of clunkers this season, the 42-year-old pitched well enough on numerous occasions to pick up his first win before spring gave way to summer. For one reason or another, the streak just kept on growing.

On three occasions — April 20, May 6, June 29 — Verlander exited the ballgame in position to win but San Francisco’s bullpen blew the lead at some point following his departure.

On four other occasions — April 25, May 1, May 15, June 29 — Verlander turned in quality starts but didn’t receive enough run support. There was also Verlander’s quality start against the Philadelphia Phillies on July 9 after he made a mechanical tweak, a game that ended in a 13-0 blowout.

On this occasion, he finally ended a game with a win — and a bottle of wine — in hand.

“We’ve wanted so badly to get him that first win and we haven’t necessarily (played well), whether that’s play good defense behind him or swing the bats well or a couple things didn’t go our way,” said Matt Chapman, who hit a two-run homer. “But we got the job done today and we were able to get that win for him. We’re definitely going to enjoy this one today.”

Enjoying wins on Tuesday and Wednesday required convening as a team following Monday’s ugly 9-5 loss, one where Hayden Birdsong didn’t record a single out. No one on the Giants used the phrase “team meeting,” but there were elusions to a talk happening following Monday’s loss. Following that game, San Francisco proceeded to outscore Atlanta 18-3 over the next two days.

Similar to Birdsong on Monday, Verlander’s outing looked as if it could’ve ended before it really started.

Verlander gifted the Braves a rally in the bottom of the first inning by walking Matt Olson, Sean Murphy and Ozzie Albies. As Verlander’s pitch count rose, San Francisco’s bullpen began to stir. Melvin planned to allow Verlander’s pitch count to get into the 40s but would’ve pulled Verlander if he crossed the 50-pitch threshold.

Strider and Verlander traded zeros through the first four innings, but San Francisco’s offense finally awoke in the top of the fifth.

Devers, who returned to DH after playing his first game at first base, gave the Giants a 1-0 lead by golfing a shoe-top slider over the right-field fence. Devers’ homer, his 18th of the season, registered an exit velocity of 92.5 mph, the lowest that Devers has ever had on a homer in the majors. Two batters later, Chapman expanded San Francisco’s lead to 3-0 with an opposite-field, two-run shot, his 14th homer of the season.

“Special player, special hitter,” Verlander said of Devers. “Those guys just sometimes have the ability to do things that as a pitcher, you just kind of tip your cap.”

From there, San Francisco’s offense ensured Verlander wouldn’t go home without the 263rd victory of his career.

Devers doubled San Francisco’s lead to 6-0 in the top of the sixth with a no-doubt, three-run home run, his first multi-homer game as a Giant. In the seventh, San Francisco put up its third three-spot of the day on RBI singles from Dominic Smith and Luis Matos, as well as an RBI groundout from Patrick Bailey.

The Giants will now return to San Francisco for a six-game home stand against the New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates, their last slate of games before the July 31 trade deadline.