The results haven’t been there for rookie Logan Webb recently, but the Giants have stuck with the 23-year-old right-hander all season and consistently expressed confidence in his ability to establish himself as a long-term piece of their rotation. 

“We’re always feeling like he’s about to turn the corner,” manager Gabe Kapler said Sunday.  

The Giants were relying on Webb to get back on track and provide some length out of the rotation on Friday, but he couldn’t deliver, surrendering six runs over 3 1/3 innings in a 6-0 series-opening loss to the A’s at the Coliseum.

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“I’ve just got to compete, and I’ve just got to be better,” Webb said. “I’m frustrated right now.”

The defeat technically caused the Giants to drop out of playoff position with 10 games left to go. At 25-25, they’re now tied with the Reds (26-26) for the second National League Wild Card spot, but they’d lose the tiebreaker because Cincinnati currently has a better intradivision record.

The Giants have beat up on non-contenders to keep themselves in the thick of the NL Wild Card race, but they’ve struggled to solve elite teams like the A’s, who clinched their third consecutive postseason berth on Friday. San Francisco is 19-8 against teams below .500 this year but only 6-17 against teams over .500. Six of their final 10 games will come against the A’s and the Padres, two of the best teams in the Majors, creating a difficult road ahead for the Giants.

The Giants entered their most pivotal stretch of the season without their best player, as Mike Yastrzemski missed his first game of the 2020 campaign due to a right calf strain. His absence loomed large after the Giants were stymied by A’s right-hander Chris Bassitt, who allowed only three hits over 6 2/3 innings.

“It was not a good performance from our offense tonight,” Kapler said. “I think all of our players would tell you that. It was not a good performance from actually any perspective. We have to play better baseball than that down the stretch if we’re going to get into the postseason.”

Webb continued to struggle with command issues and put the Giants in an early hole after yielding a three-run home run to Matt Olson that extended the A’s lead to 4-0 in the third inning. Tommy La Stella and Marcus Semien added back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth, chasing Webb from the game with his pitch count at 90.

Webb produced the best start of his Major League career when he tossed seven innings of two-run ball against the D-backs on Aug. 21, but he’s fallen into a prolonged slump since then, logging an 8.86 ERA over his last five outings. The Giants remain enamored with his arsenal, which includes a nasty sinker, a sweeping slider and a solid changeup, but Webb has had a hard time consistently filling up the strike zone, allowing opposing hitters to work deep counts and prevent him from working late into games. Webb said he feels he’s allowed his focus to drift to “mechanical things” rather than simply competing.

“The guy’s got the best stuff,” catcher Joey Bart said. “His stuff is ridiculous. If he can just tone it down a little bit, get back in the zone and get back to himself, he’ll be fine. And that’s what we all feel. These growing pains are good for him so he can build and learn and become a better pitcher.”

The Giants haven’t had a starter make it past the fourth inning in each of their last three games, an unsustainable trend considering they have no more off-days over the final nine days of the regular season.

Drew Smyly lasted only 3 2/3 innings Wednesday in his first start since returning from the injured list, and Tyler Anderson recorded only six outs on Thursday before being tossed for arguing balls and strikes in the third inning. The Giants overcame those first two short starts due to their resilient offense, but their bats uncharacteristically went silent in their fourth shutout loss of the year on Friday.

“I feel like lately the bullpen has been worn out, especially some of the times I’ve been pitching,” said Webb, who is expected to remain in the rotation. “... I’ve just got to be better and give the team more innings and put our team in a better position to win. I haven’t been doing that, and it sucks and it’s frustrating. But I can’t dwell on that. I’ve just got to get back to work and try to find some things that are just kind of flush it out of my head and get back to competing.”

The Giants added Andrew Suárez and Shaun Anderson to their bullpen on Friday, and Kapler said they’ll have to bring up another fresh arm ahead of Saturday afternoon’s game. Kevin Gausman and Johnny Cueto are slated to pitch the final two games of this series against the A’s, but the veteran right-handers are dealing with an elbow and hip issue, respectively, so it’s unclear how much length they’ll be able to realistically provide for the club.

“Certainly, we can’t keep having short starts,” Kapler said. “We’re going to need some of our starting pitchers to go deeper into games. The good thing is that we’re getting Smyly built back up. We’ve got a guy that can certainly go deep into the game for us tomorrow in Gaus and Cueto behind him. We’ve got some opportunities to get deeper into games moving forward.”