Webb gets 1st career ejection, Vitello gets 2nd in 3 days over fair-ball call

SAN FRANCISCO -- Logan Webb, a gentleman pitcher, has not been ejected in any of his 204 Major League games. He was an observer when he finally got tossed Friday night, expressing in an ungentlemanly tone how he felt about two third-inning calls that led to the undoing of rookie starter Blade Tidwell.

“I don’t think I get mad at umpires very often,” Webb said. “I thought that inning just didn’t need to happen. So, yeah, I was just letting my frustrations out, sticking up for my guys.”

Tony Vitello also was ejected, for the second time in three days and the fifth time during his rookie season as a professional manager.

“I was pretty hot,” Webb said. “I was hot before Tony was and I think I got him hot, and then it kind of escalated from there.”

The two calls had a huge impact in a five-run inning that propelled the Diamondbacks to their 10-6 win.

With one out and nobody on, Tidwell thought he struck out Lars Nootbaar, but home-plate umpire Alan Porter called the pitch a ball and catcher Andrew Knizner did not challenge. Nootbaar eventually doubled ahead of a Corbin Carroll homer that gave Arizona a 3-2 lead.

With two outs and Geraldo Perdomo on first base, Nolan Arenado hit a chopper down the third-base line. The ball landed in foul territory beyond the infield, but third-base umpire Alex MacKay ruled it had traveled over the bag, which made it fair. The Giants thought it was foul. That’s a judgment call that cannot be reviewed.

The Giants did not argue the call as it happened. The emotions spilled over when the next hitter, Tim Tawa, hit a three-run homer for a 6-2 Diamondbacks lead.

After Tawa’s homer and a James McCann strikeout to end the inning, Vitello hollered at Porter and extended his arms apart, as if to illustrate how foul Arenado’s ball was. Porter immediately ejected Vitello, who roared out of the dugout to continue the argument.

Vitello said Porter was upset that the manager did not emerge from the dugout to argue the “fair” call right after that play and instead yelled at the umpire from the dugout after the inning ended. Meanwhile, Webb ran the length of the dugout so he could stand at the rail and yell at MacKay. Oddly, MacKay did not eject Webb. Second-base umpire Roberto Ortiz did.

“I knew I hadn’t been ejected before,” Webb said. “So I was ready for it.”

Tidwell said he did not hear Vitello say much, “but Webb really took the reins. He earned that one.”

Vitello said he loved the way Webb stood up for Tidwell, who was making his fifth Major League start. Tidwell was extremely appreciative, too.

“I thought it was awesome that my manager and one of my vets had my back,” he said. “It was definitely cool to see. That was winning camaraderie. I think if we all get on the same page that way, we should have success as time goes.”

Tidwell sustained his first Major League loss but still earned praise for following the five-run third with two hitless innings that got him through the fifth. The Giants needed that length to help preserve the bullpen ahead of Saturday’s split doubleheader.

The Giants briefly made a run at the Diamondbacks, closing to 6-5 in the fourth inning on Christian Koss’ first homer of the season. But Arizona scored three in the sixth off Spencer Bivens to pull away.

One more Giants highlight: Right-hander Braxton Roxby pitched a perfect ninth inning in a Major League debut that was long in coming for the 27-year-old. He spent almost six seasons in the Minors after the Reds signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Division II Pittsburgh-Jonestown.

Roxby’s family was on hand to see him induce a foul pop from Arenado, an eight-time All-Star, and register his first strikeout, of Tawa, to end the inning. Roxby was walking toward the dugout celebrating when he realized Tawa challenged the third strike and that the ABS system could take away his first K.

Roxby thought he threw a strike, but got a bit nervous when catcher Drew Cavanaugh -- who stayed in the game after pinch-hitting for Knizner in the fifth -- suggested he was not as sure.

The ABS confirmation that the pitch was a strike was “awesome,” Roxby said. “It was like a second wave of emotions.”