All-Star bound Webb roughed up by Blue Jays

Reporting from ORACLE PARK

Logan Webb becoming a National League All-Star has been long overdue.

After narrowly missing out last season, he’s officially set to represent the San Francisco Giants in Arlington Tuesday afternoon for the Midsummer Classic. Since his schedule lines up properly, Webb might even find himself appearing in the game. 

This story will be updated with quotes and post-game material from the Giants clubhouse at Oracle Park.

Wednesday night, in his final start before All-Star Week, thee right-hander struggled to fool an aggressive Toronto offense, allowing seven earned runs and eight hits in five innings as the Blue Jays pummeled the Giants 10-6 Wednesday evening at Oracle Park.

Pitching with an extra day of rest, Webb entered the game on a streak of finishing at least six innings in 11 straight starts since May 10. The last such Giants streak Madison Bumgarner‘s 19-start run in 2016. 

Webb (L, 7-7, 3.47 ERA) started off baffling Toronto, holding the Jays scoreless through four and even displaying some defensive prowess. With two away in the second, the Giants right-hander aggressively raced to field Daulton Varsho‘s slow tapper up the first base line. When first baseman Wilmer Flores strayed too far away from the bag,  Webb — in a miraculously outstretched style — had zero choice but to simultaneously dive and apply the tag on Varsho for the final out. 

In the fifth, Ernie Clement — on his way to a monster, three-hit night  — crushed a three-run homer for the second straight game to ignite the Toronto offense.

Everything fell apart in the sixth when Webb emerged from the dugout and immediately allowed a booming leadoff to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The slugger came around to cross the plate when Justin Turner drove him in with an RBI single to put the Blue Jays up 4-3. 

And the hits just kept on coming.

Webb yielded a double and single, which was enough for manager Bob Melvin to call upon righty Sean Hjelle, who promptly allowed two more knocks. At the end of the sixth, Toronto — runless in the first five — was up 9-3.

The Giants offense wasn’t taking awful at-bats against veteran Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt, a name Melvin knows well after managing him for a few seasons in Oakland. Bassitt, described as a pitcher always tinkering and adding to his arsenal, worked hard for 63 pitches through the first two innings.

Michael Conforto racked up a 2-for-4 evening, contributing an RBI single to open up the scoring in the first, and a game-tying double in the right-center field gap in the fifth. Conforto has seen the ball well recently, going 13-for-his-last-42 with 10 extra base-hits and 15 runs batted in his most recent 16 games going back to June 22.

It was too little too late, but the Giants did manage to sneak a tiny bit of excitement out of a rather dull performance with back-to-back homers in the ninth.

Catcher Patrick Bailey — a name still possibly in the running for making the National League All-Star team if a catching spot opens up — added a solo shot to center off reliever Bowden Francis, his seventh of the season. Matt Chapman was next, crushing a solo-blast of his own over the left field fence for his 13th of the season.

Up Next

The Giants face old friend and Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman (6-8, 4.64 ERA) on Thursday afternoon in the series finale. They’ll send righty Jordan Hicks (4-5, 3.47 ERA). First pitch is 12:45 p.m.

Notes

Jorge Soler (illness) is feeling much better and could return to the lineup soon, according to Melvin. … Left-hander Robbie Ray continued his recovery from Tommy John Surgery with a rehab outing on Tuesday for Single-A San Jose. It was a struggle for him, allowing four runs on four hits — two homers — with 59 pitches. He’ll start again for Triple-A Sacramento in Las Vegas on July 14. Melvin says Ray is still on-track to return directly after the All-Star break. 

Steven Rissotto

Steven Rissotto has covered the San Francisco Giants for SFBay since 2021. He is the host of RizzoCast, a baseball interview show featuring players, coaches, media and fans. He attends San Francisco State University and will major in Journalism and minor in education.