Reporting from ORACLE PARK
Logan Webb dealt his tenth-straight quality start at Oracle Park, and Marco Luciano banged out his first big league hit, but neither were enough as the San Francisco Giants fell short 3-2 to the Boston Red Sox in the series opener Friday night.
The two teams have not faced each other in the Bay Area since June 2016 when they split a two-game set.
Webb, coming off his shortest start of his big-league career in which he lasted just 1-1/3 innings on Saturday in Washington, was able to regain his efficacy on Friday by keeping the Red Sox (56-47) to three runs over 7-1/3 strong innings. Webb (L, 8-9, 3.49 ERA) yielded six hits, striking out four and walking none.
Unlike against the Nationals where he couldn’t put hitters away and threw 41 pitches in the second inning, Webb’s luck changed against Boston when he zoomed through 48 pitches in four innings of work.
The outing was good enough to be considered a quality start and the right-hander has now logged one in all ten home games this season – the longest active streak in the big leagues and longest by a Giant to start the season since Madison Bumgarner’s 13 in 2016.
Boston first baseman Triston Casas, however, wasn’t an easy assignment for Webb. The 23-year-old has led the universe in key offensive categories including homers, average, on-base percentage, slugging and OPS. He added two more hits, including an RBI double in the second and a solo homer to left-center in the fifth – both off Webb.
Webb pitched into the eighth inning, but allowed a leadoff single to Connor Wong. After a sacrifice bunt moved Wong into scoring position, Kapler signaled for lefty Taylor Rogers to face the left-handed bat of Jarren Duran. Boston countered by pulling Duran and sending pinch-hitter Rob Refsnyder to the plate. Naturally, he knocked an RBI single to left to extend the Red Sox lead to 3-1.
After the game, Webb expressed his frustration from the run scoring, telling reporters that he had more juice left in him to complete the inning. Giants manager Gabe Kapler defended his move:
“Taylor Rogers has been really good. Webb was good. I felt like it was the right time with those lefties coming up and figured we’d probably get Refsnyder then we have a lefty behind him so yeah, a good spot for Tay.”
Supporting Webb with run support has been difficult for the Giants (56-48) this season. Simply put, they haven’t scored for him. Entering into the game, 18 of Webb’s last 30 starts feature two or fewer runs of support – the Giants are 4-14 and Webb has pitched to a 3.12 ERA during those games.
It was no different during the first five innings, struggling to put anything substantial together against Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford.
In the sixth, they finally broke through. Marco Luciano, San Francisco’s most anticipated prospect since arguably Buster Posey in 2010, was called up for Wednesday’s game against the A’s and went hitless in his first game. To start the sixth on Friday, the shortstop cranked a 107.1 mph single off the glove of Boston third baseman Rafael Devers and into left field for his first MLB hit.
The 21-year-old said he plans on giving his first hit baseball to his mother, who he says will keep the piece of special memorabilia in safe keepings. His parents were in attendance for the game, marking the first time they’ve seen him play in a big league game, he said:
“It’s something that hasn’t happened that often. So obviously, I’m very happy that I was able to play and I was very happy that they were here to see it.”
Luciano reached first base to a thunderous ovation from the home crowd at Oracle Park, a moment many of them have been waiting for since Luciano was signed out of the Dominican Republic as a 16-year-old in 2018. He rose quickly through the upper minors in 2023 and spent just six games in Triple-A Sacramento before receiving the call late Tuesday night. According to MLB.com, Luciano is the No. 2 ranked prospect for the Giants and No. 15 overall in baseball.
Luciano says the milestone of his first MLB hit leaves him wanting more:
“It’s something really great. I mean, it’s hard to explain. But I don’t feel comfortable. I still don’t feel that I have achieved anything. I still want more. That’s just the way I am.”
Luciano advanced to second when Crawford unleashed a wild pitch and scored two batters later when Michael Conforto blooped an RBI single to center to cut the Boston lead in half, making it 2-1.
Another opportunity rose for Luciano in the seventh when the Giants had runners on the corners with two outs, but the rookie struck out looking on a questionable call to retire the frame.
To lead off the home half of the eighth, Joc Pederson pounced on a fastball up in the zone from reliever Chris Martin and deposited it into the Red Sox center field bullpen for a solo homer to make it 3-2. Pederson’s 11th four-bagger of the season was crushed – 109.5 mph off the bat for a 412-foot dinger.
The Giants haven’t yet announced a starter for Game 2 of the series, but they’re set to square off against Boston veteran lefty James Paxton (6-2, 3.46 ERA). First pitch is 4:15 p.m.
The Giants suffered a big blow to their pitching depth on Friday when the team announced that right-hander Keaton Winn suffered right elbow soreness after his last outing for Triple-A Sacramento on July 22. Winn will be examined on Saturday morning by Dr. Ken Akizuki. … Brandon Crawford, who was eligible to come off the injured list on Friday, will take some more time to prepare, Kapler told reporters before the game.
Last modified July 29, 2023 1:16 am
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