Logan Webb stood helplessly on the mound in the fifth inning as a pop-up off the bat of Arizona’s Carson Kelly fell quickly into shallow right field. It kept falling and falling, soon completely over the outstretched glove of first baseman Brandon Belt. As the second run of the inning trotted home, Belt’s throw slipped off his fingertips and rolled five feet towards the infield, and an outburst of audible laughter rippled through Oracle Park.
http://gty.im/1415661876It turned out to be Webb’s 92nd and final pitch Thursday afternoon, and Giants manager Gabe Kapler emerged from the dugout to remove his ace right-hander from the game. Webb didn’t have his greatest stuff, and the guys behind him lacked urgency as the Giants were blanked 5-0 by the Diamondbacks.
After throwing eight shutout innings in his last start, Webb’s command abandoned him against a pesty Arizona offense. He had trouble locating his sinker and slider, walking three hitters in the first three innings of the game.
He was able to escape trouble by inducing double play balls in the first and second innings, but couldn’t be saved in the third when he walked third baseman Sergio Alcantara to lead off. After a successful sacrifice bunt, Arizona right fielder Daulton Varsho punched a seeing-eye, run-scoring single into right field. A few batters later, Webb surrendered a loud RBI double to second baseman Josh Rojas to make it 2-0.
It wasn’t Webb’s lack of command, or leaving hittable pitches up in the zone, that sunk him Thursday, It was more his inability to put hitters away. He advanced 10 batters to two-strike counts, yet didn’t strike out a single hitter over 4-2/3 innings. Thursday marked the first start of Webb’s big-league career where he failed to record at least one strikeout.
On the outing, Kapler mentioned a few things he noticed with Webb’s mechanics:
I think he may have just been opening up a little too early and that was causing a little bit more horizontal movement, less vertical movement, the vertical movement you usually see – that depth. And so they were able to get bats on the ball. Sometimes they were foul balls, they hung around in at-bats long enough to get the ball in the air pretty consistently against Webby today and with Gallen out there, essentially dotting up all day, it was enough.”
The first three hitters in the Diamondbacks lineup had multi-hit games, including a three-hit game for left fielder Jake McCarthy, who also singled home a run in the fifth. McCarthy worked out with Webb in the offseason, so they’re well familiar with each other.
Arizona is known to be one of the most disciplined offensive units in all of baseball. Entering the season, they were tied with the Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers in chase rate at 29%. Not only were the D-Backs relentless in taking close pitches, they also put the ball in play at an elite level.
The National League West is often looked at as where the Dodgers and Padres rule the rooster, with the Giants a strong contenders at times. Arizona may not be far behind. Webb notes that he’s been knocked around by them a bit.
They have a sneaky good lineup, honestly. I don’t know, I think they’re like second lowest in chase rate in baseball. It’s the third time they’ve kind of given me fits. I gotta figure something out against them. I may be getting into some weird patterns that I might be doing, but I think they have a really good team to be honest, good lineup that super fast, they’re athletic and like I said, they don’t chase it all.”
The same can’t be said for the Giants offense, who appeared uninspired and more and more helpless as the game went on against D-Backs right-hander Zac Gallen. The right-hander was 24-for-25 in first-pitch strikes and when he arrived at two strikes, it was lethal. He finished the afternoon with a career-high 12 strikeouts.
The Giants managed just two hits through six against Gallen, and both baserunners were erased right away on double-play balls from Gallen.
The only sign of life for the San Francisco offense was in the seventh with two outs, when Joc Pederson smoked a single and advanced to third on a double down the left field line off the bat of Evan Longoria. The premier scoring opportunity was tarnished when Belt was called out after fouling a bunt on a 1-2 pitch. The Oracle Park crowd of 26,197 let out their frustration, booing Belt and the Giants as Gallen strolled off the mound, laughing.
It was a questionable move at best, especially down five runs with two runners in scoring position. Belt explained that he felt it was his best chance to help the club win:
“I took my best route I thought would keep the inning going. I’m not going to say I was right, but that was the decision I made. I wanted to keep the inning going. Unfortunately I didn’t get it down.”
If he was to do it all over again, Belt said he wouldn’t change anything – especially considering how well Gallen was throwing the ball.
Kapler agreed:
When two guys [Belt and Crawford] are bunting with two strikes, it means that they’re just trying to scrap and claw and find a way to get on base against the guy that’s really dealing and dominating.”
There was a positive for San Francisco. Left-hander Thomas Szapucki, acquired from the New York Mets in-exchange for Darin Ruf at the Trading Deadline, entered play with an absurd 54.00 ERA in 1 ⅔ innings between both teams. In a rebound, he fired 2-1/3 shutout innings while allowing just three hits. It was a huge relief, considering the upcoming series the Giants have in Denver, a place known to be detrimental for any type of pitcher.
The Giants head to Denver to begin a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies. Left-hander Alex Wood (8-9, 4.18 ERA) will be handed the ball for Game 1 on Friday at Coors Field. He’ll face Rockies right-hander Jose Urena (1-4, 4.80 ERA). First pitch is 5:40 p.m.
It’s the time of year for minor league prospects to finish out a year of development strong. Although many of the top position players in the Giants system have struggled with either health or inconsistency, a few pitchers have turned heads as they work their way to the big leagues. Two right-handed pitchers, Landen Roupp and Keaton Winn, have been promoted from High-A Eugene to Double-A Richmond. Roupp, 23, is San Francisco’s 28th best prospect, according to MLB.com. … Heliot Ramos was spotted inside the Giants clubhouse after the game and will travel with the team to Denver.
Last modified September 18, 2022 1:43 pm
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