PHILADELPHIA >> The ballgame entered a crucial juncture, and Giants manager Bob Melvin had a decision to make. He could either stick with Justin Verlander, a future Hall of Famer with 262 wins who has gotten himself out of plenty of jams during his career. Or, he could go to his bullpen.

“I wanted to give him a chance,” Melvin said.

Melvin gave his veteran a chance. The decision didn’t pan out.

Verlander allowed the tying and go-ahead runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and the Giants surrendered a lead they’d never reclaim, falling to the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-4, on Jackie Robinson Day at Citizens Bank Park.

Following another unlucky outing, Verlander admitted to feeling “tested” following his fourth start without a win in his first season with the Giants. Tuesday, Verlander (0-1) took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth against the Phillies. The lead and Verlander were gone before the end of the inning.

“Not sure why I’m being tested so hard,” Verlander said. “I’ll keep working hard. I’ll keep trying to make my pitches. I do everything that I can do. Just try to make pitches, try to get guys not to hit the ball hard and let the results happen.

“(Heliot Ramos) said something to me. (I said), ‘It’s all good man.’ We’re all trying the best we can here. Tough. It’s tough.”

Ramos didn’t chat with Verlander after the game-deciding sixth inning just for the sake of conversation.

With one out and runners on first and second, J.T. Realmuto hit a towering fly ball to left field that hung in the air for about five seconds. Ramos, shaded towards left-center field, took an inefficient route to the ball. He got a glove on the ball, but the ball still found grass and Kyle Schwarber scored to tie the score at three apiece.

Given Tuesday night’s wind patterns, the play was far from routine. In the first inning, the winds swirled towards right field with so much force that the flag poles behind center field began to sway.

Phillies star Trea Turner drove a ball to the warning track in the first that appeared headed for the bleachers, but the ball was knocked down by the gusts. In the third inning, first baseman Bryce Harper had difficulty playing Ramos’ pop up to shallow right field, resulting in the ball finding grass.

By the sixth inning, the wind patterns had shifted. With Realmuto’s fly ball, then, Ramos essentially had to guess where the wind would take the ball.

When Ramos saw Verlander after the inning, he told his starter, ‘My bad.’

“He brings a lot of energy every day,” Ramos said of Verlander. “Obviously, when he’s out there on the mound, we want to give our best for him because he’s out here. He obviously doesn’t have the need — it’s not for money. He loves the game. He loves being here. He loves his teammates. We all want to give our best to him.”

With the game tied at three apiece, Melvin had an opportunity to summon reliever Randy Rodríguez, who had already been warming in the bullpen. Still, Melvin stuck with his starter.

Verlander recorded the inning’s second out when Max Kepler hit a line drive to shortstop Willy Adames, but Alec Bohm gave the Phillies a lead they wouldn’t lose with an RBI single to left.

The lead gone, Melvin went to his bullpen.

“The decision was after Kepler lined out,” Melvin said. “The ball that falls in left field, he makes a good pitch. It just ended up falling, but it was after the Kepler at-bat that I had a decision to make and I gave him one more guy.”

For Verlander, his outing against the Phillies represented a second straight start where he was bit by a bit of bad luck.

The 42-year-old struck out nine batters against the Cincinnati Reds in his last outing and touched as high as 98 mph but suffered batted-ball misfortune en route to allowing five earned runs. Verlander has a .356 BABIP, or batting average on balls in play, this season. Given his career mark is .279, Verlander has been on the unluckier side of things to begin the season — a notion he didn’t entirely disagree with.

“That’s what it feels like,” said Verlander, who allowed eight hits and four earned runs in 5 2/3 innings against the Phillies. “I still feel like I’m headed in the right direction. Trying not to overthink it best I can, which is difficult.”

Harper added insurance in the seventh with a wind-aided two-run homer.

Jung Hoo Lee and Matt Chapman each had two hits for the Giants, who are 3-2 midway through a 10-game trip.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.