DENVER – The Giants might have been happy just to have Logan Webb and Jung Hoo Lee on the field after the tandem came off the injured list before Friday’s series opener against the Rockies, but the two played well enough to pace their club toward victory, just not quite all the way to the winner’s circle.
The Giants led for five innings after scoring their first run in the third inning on Friday. They maintained a two-run lead until the late innings, when they extended it to three runs before Colorado turned the tables and scored seven runs in the last two innings, including a crushing five-run final frame that saw the Rockies steal a win and deal San Francisco an 8-6 loss.
“The last inning is a bitter pill, unfortunately, one that we've experienced before,” Giants manager Tony Vitello said of the team’s fifth walk-off loss. “It shows you how good Webby is. Truly, their hitters all took good swings off all of our relievers, for the most part, other than maybe [Erik] Miller.”
Lee matched his career high of four hits in a game, going 4-for-5 at the plate with a pair of runs scored and a double, but he made an even bigger impact with his glove, stealing at least three runs with a pair of highlight-reel catches in right field.
He ran down a deep fly from Kyle Karros in the fourth to save a run and end the inning, crashing into the fence to make the catch, and he came up with Troy Johnston’s sinking liner in the fifth after losing the ball in the lights while sliding and fully extending himself to make the play, saving two more runs.
“I saw a small glimpse of the ball, and then I got lucky to catch it,” Lee said through an interpreter, confessing he couldn’t see it in the final moment as he made the catch. “I’m going to be honest – the ball came into the glove.”
Spectacular as the plays were, Vitello was hardly fazed by Lee’s prowess in the field or his ability to come off the 10-day IL swinging, without the benefit of a rehab assignment.
“He looked really comfortable at the plate,” Vitello said. “His first swing, you could tell how anxious he was to get back to playing – he about came out of his shoes and his batting gloves. It was fun seeing him back in the lineup and having him active. He kind of picked up where he left off.”
The Giants scored three of their first four runs on sacrifice flies, and Webb looked like he had the stuff to make those runs stick. He allowed one run on three hits, three walks, and a hit batsman while striking out five in 4 1/3 innings. He also made a throwing error to first, but stranded the runner at third. The one run on his line came via a double steal.
“We want to win the game, so you're looking at the scoreboard, and they only scored one run while he was out there,” Vitello said. “He put us in a good position. It's not ideal to give up a few free bases, but just having him back out there, the position we were in when he left the game, and then also how good his stuff was – part of the walks was guys not putting the ball in play, and his ball moving all over the place, which was encouraging, considering a little bit of time away.”
Webb was happy with his performance, all things considered, indicating that he hadn’t felt this good in his previous eight starts before going on the IL with right knee bursitis.
“I wish I pitched a little bit better – the walks kind of stink, the throw was awful, but for the most part it's probably the best I’ve felt physically all season, which is a step in the right direction,” Webb said. “Stuff was good. The velo was better. I just got to attack more, and I know it's a hard place, because stuff doesn't move the exact same here, but I’ve played here long enough to know that I’ve got to make an adjustment.”
Webb made no excuses for his throwing error, stressing the importance of fundamental fielding practice.
“I went to grab it, and kind of tried to baby it over there instead of just throwing it to first,” Webb explained. “I had a bad throw in my rehab outing too, so hopefully I can go out there and work on that, because that's unacceptable.”
The loss was the Giants’ fourth straight, and their ninth consecutive against the National League West.