Giants drop wild opener after Webb's duel with Skenes goes sideways

PITTSBURGH -- What was billed as a classic pitchers’ duel between the Giants’ Logan Webb and the Pirates’ Paul Skenes turned into a wild battle of the bats on Tuesday night at PNC Park.

Neither Webb nor Skenes pitched long enough to qualify for the win, but they watched their offenses duel it out in a high-scoring affair that ended in heartbreaking fashion for the Giants, who erased a six-run deficit only to be walked off, 13-12, on a two-out throwing error by third baseman Osleivis Basabe in the bottom of the ninth inning.

It was the latest gut punch for San Francisco, which clinched a losing season by opening September with its 82nd defeat of the year.

“You get pissed when it doesn’t work out the way you want or the way you fought for it,” manager Tony Vitello said. “But the thing about this is it’s coming right back around the corner tomorrow. We’ve got an opportunity to vent any of those frustrations or pick up where we left off. Obviously, it’s a commendable effort, but also real tough.”

Rafael Devers briefly gave the Giants a 5-2 lead by cranking a three-run blast that capped a five-run rally against Skenes in the top of the second. But the Pirates countered with an even bigger outburst against Webb, who faced seven batters without recording an out in a disastrous nine-run third.

Webb surrendered four consecutive singles to open the 34-minute inning, then issued back-to-back walks with the bases loaded. He was pulled after yielding a two-run, go-ahead single to Henry Davis and departed with the Giants trailing, 7-5.

Braxton Roxby, a native of Johnstown, Pa., entered the game to replace Webb, but he couldn’t stop the bleeding, giving up a pair of two-run singles to Spencer Horwitz and Oneil Cruz that extended the Pirates’ lead to 11-5.

Webb was charged with a career-high nine earned runs over two-plus innings, causing his ERA to spike from 3.72 to 4.21 over 25 starts this season. The Pirates also collected nine hits off the three-time All-Star, all of which were singles.

Webb said he was looking forward to matching up against Skenes, who was his Team USA teammate at the World Baseball Classic earlier this year, which made his clunker even more disappointing.

“I was excited to face Paul,” Webb said. “I’ve become pretty good friends with him. I wanted to compete against him today, and I didn’t do a very good job of that. Worst start of my career. Not good.”

Left-hander Cesar Perdomo, who was selected from Triple-A Sacramento as part of the first wave of September callups on Tuesday, emerged as a bright spot for the Giants, tossing four innings of one-run ball in his Major League debut.

“I didn’t sleep much because of the flight times,” Perdomo said in Spanish. “It was something that didn’t feel real even once I got here.”

Perdomo’s performance kept the game from getting more out of hand for the Giants, who stirred back to life by scoring two runs in the sixth and five more in the eighth to tie the game.

The Giants’ second five-run rally of the night began with four straight one-out walks, which helped set up Drew Cavanaugh’s two-run double to right field. Nate Furman followed with a pinch-hit, two-run single to left field, tying the game at 12.

San Francisco continued to threaten after putting runners on second and third with two outs in the top of the ninth, but Pirates lefty Mason Montgomery got Jung Hoo Lee to ground out to end the inning.

Right-hander Carson Seymour came on to pitch the bottom of the ninth for the Giants, but he gave up a pair of singles. Rafael Flores Jr. then hit a two-out grounder to the left side that was fielded by Basabe, who made a sliding stop before firing an errant throw that skipped past Devers at first, resulting in a walk-off win for the Pirates.

A stunned Devers stayed hunched over at first base for several seconds after the fateful play, holding his hands on his knees as he watched the Pirates celebrate their triumph by mobbing Flores in shallow right field.

“[Basabe] made an unbelievable play,” Vitello said. “Sometimes when you pop up on an infield play like that -- I don’t want to say you’re surprised you have the ball, but you did the super tough part. Now he’s got a long throw, he’s got to get rid of it quick. There’s just a lot that goes into it. It wasn’t the best throw in the world. Rafi wants to pick his guy up. But it wasn’t an easy pick, either. We’ve lost games in a variety of ways, much less heartbreaking than this. It still eats at [Devers]. It’s the nature of being who he is.”