Webb spins gem as Giants halt three-game skid
Logan SAN FRANCISCO —
Webb pitched six innings of two-hit ball and the San Francisco Giants backed their ace with four home runs in a 9-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.
Evan Longoria, Thairo Estrada, Joc Pederson and Wilmer Flores homered for the Giants, who snapped a three-game skid. They had lost five of six after winning seven of their previous eight.
Brandon Drury homered for the Reds, who have lost eight of their last nine games.
“That’s the team that we expect ourselves to show up every single night,” Webb said. “Sometimes you go through a rough patch, and unfortunately, it’s just lasted a longer than we hoped.”
Cincinnati took advantage of Giants third baseman Longoria’s two-out fielding error in the top of the second to take an early lead on Nick Senzel’s run-scoring single.
But Longoria homered leading off the bottom of the inning and Estrada went deep two batters later to give San Francisco a 2-1 lead.
Longoria turned on a 2-2 inside fastball off Reds starter Mike Minor for his seventh home run, a 411-foot shot to left.
Darin Ruf ’s run-scoring single highlighted a two-run third that gave San Francisco a 4-1 lead.
Pederson hit his 17th homer off Minor – his second off a lefty this season – leading off the fifth.
Flores’ two run homer – his ninth – highlighted a threerun sixth in which the Giants broke open a 6-1 game.
“I thought the Flores homer was the one we’ve been waiting for,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said.
“We’ve talked about one more really good at-bat in the game to make the difference, we’ve also talked about how big innings win baseball games for us … that’s been one of the keys to our success.”
Webb (7-2) struck out six and walked two. He’s given up just two earned runs in 18 innings over his last three starts.
“(Webb’s) sinker moves a lot, it’s very heavy, it didn’t like the 92-93 (mph) that the radar was saying,” Drury said.
“It felt harder, and he was throwing a lot of changeups and sliders, so it was just hard to be on time for the sinker when he wasn’t throwing a lot of sinkers and when you start thinking soft, he puts the sinker on your hands. It was just tough. He was really good today.”
The Giants have won 22 of Webb’s 28 career home starts.
Minor (1-4) gave up six runs on eight hits including three home runs in his fifth start after missing the first two months with a shoulder injury.
“I know he’s doing everything he can … just wasn’t able to execute the pitches the way he knows he needs to,” Reds manager David Bell said of Minor.
“All you can do is continue to search, continue to work, and I know he’s doing that, but I know it’s frustrating for him also.”