Webb gem: Righty excels on mound, at plate

Starter strikes out eight in seven scoreless frames, hits two-run triple

April 26th, 2021

SAN FRANCISCO -- Back in Spring Training, Giants right-hander confessed that he had been rooting for the universal designated hitter to stick around for the 2021 season.

"A little part of me wanted the DH forever because my last at-bat in 2019 was a base hit," Webb explained. "I was hoping to finish my hitting career with a base hit."

Whenever Webb’s hitting career ends, he’ll have a triple to his name, too. Webb tossed seven scoreless innings and helped his cause by adding a two-run triple to help the Giants clinch a series victory with a 4-3 win over the Marlins on a soggy Sunday afternoon at Oracle Park. 

“Now I know why hitters like hitting so much,” Webb said. “When you hit it and it feels good, it just feels like nothing. That was a lot of fun. I was definitely a little tired after I got to third.” 

Webb struck out eight while throwing a career-high 107 pitches to earn his first win of the season and help the Giants improve to 8-2 at Oracle Park and 14-8 overall, tied with the A’s for the second-best record in the Majors. 

It was easily the best outing of the year for the 24-year-old Webb, who emerged as the Giants’ best starter during Spring Training but had put up middling results in his first three starts of the regular season. Webb entered Sunday with a 5.87 ERA, but he held the Marlins to three hits and three walks and reclaimed the dominant form he showed during Cactus League action earlier this year.

The Marlins put at least one runner on base in each inning except for the sixth, but Webb managed to avoid damage by inducing three double plays. Manager Gabe Kapler sent Webb back out to the mound for the eighth inning before summoning Matt Wisler from the bullpen, ensuring that the Rocklin, Calif., native walked off to a rousing ovation from the limited-capacity crowd.

“Surprisingly, I think there’s another gear,” Kapler said. “I’m sure you didn’t expect me to come out and say this about Logan, but there were some moments there where he fell behind in counts. There were some misses to the arm side and the glove side that were substantial. I just think there’s an even better version of Logan. Today was a definite step in the right direction.”

Wisler later surrendered a two-out, two-run home run to Jesús Aguilar, which cut the Giants’ lead to 4-2 and officially ended backup catcher Curt Casali’s shutout streak at five games. Casali fell four outs shy of tying the Modern Era record set by Ed Phelps, who caught six straight shutouts for the Pirates in 1903.

“I would like to continue to contribute to shutouts,” Casali said. “That’s the goal every day. I’m trying to help the pitcher suppress runs. I’ve never had a streak of games like that in my life. It felt pretty good at the time. I’m kind of glad the anxiety is gone, but I’m definitely proud of all the pitchers’ work that they did to help me accomplish that. Who knows, maybe we can start a new one now.”

Webb did his part to keep Casali’s streak alive, but the bigger surprise was the form he showed at the plate. After Mauricio Dubón put the Giants on the board by executing a perfect safety squeeze to score Wilmer Flores from third in the second inning, Webb stepped into the box and drove a 2-1 fastball from Marlins right-hander Paul Campbell out to Triples Alley to knock in a pair of runs and extend the Giants’ lead to 3-0.

“I don’t know if I can say what I said to [third-base coach Ron Wotus] when I got to third base,” Webb said. “It was something, then yeah!”

It was the first hit by a Giants starter this season, and the first triple for a Giants pitcher since Tim Lincecum accomplished the feat on June 21, 2013, against the Marlins. Webb’s triple left his bat at 109 mph, making it the fourth-hardest hit ball by a Giant this year.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Casali said. “We have a hard-hit rate kind of rankings in our clubhouse at all times. I can’t sniff that board, but he just went probably to the top of it right now.”

Webb provided a much-needed boost to the Giants’ offense, which has been struggling to consistently produce runs following a wave of injuries to several of the club’s regulars. Donovan Solano landed on the injured list with a right calf strain last week, and two other starting infielders -- Evan Longoria (hamstring tightness) and Brandon Crawford (quad tightness) -- were also out of the lineup on Sunday.

The Giants sustained more casualties on Sunday, as Flores departed in the second inning with an illness that required an IV, and Mike Yastrzemski will undergo an MRI exam after exiting with left oblique tightness in the seventh. Kapler said the Giants will continue to monitor the status of their ailing players ahead of Monday night’s series opener against the Rockies, though he acknowledged that at least one could end up joining Solano on the IL.

“I think we have some work to do to figure out how to best structure the group that we have tomorrow to protect the team and to try to win tomorrow’s baseball game,” Kapler said. “That’s what postgame work is all about, doing the work to get ready for tomorrow. We have our work cut out for us.”