Giants pull back into tie with Dodgers
SAN FRANCISCO — Amid their worst week of the season, the Giants turned to their best pitcher to salvage an otherwise miserable series against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Logan Webb was a savior after all.
With help from a four-run eighth-inning rally that featured a RBI double from Darin Ruf and a three-run home run from Thairo Estrada, Webb and the Giants clawed their way to a 5-1 win and snapped their losing streak at four games.
The victory pulled the Giants (85-49) into a tie for first place with the Dodgers (85-49) in the National League West and set up high-stakes three-game weekend series at Oracle Park a day after San Francisco fell into second place for the first time in more than three months.
“What a series to be tied and to be here in September when a lot of people probably didn’t think we’d be in this position,” Ruf said.
Webb matched his career-high with 10 strikeouts over seven dominant innings, but exited in line for a no-decision Thursday as the Giants only scored one run while the right-hander was on the mound. The Giants needed a late offensive explosion and it came when the Brewers turned to right-hander Devin Williams, who posted a 0.00 ERA in 14 appearances en route to being named the National League’s Reliever of the Month in August.
Williams was on the mound when MLB announced the honor, but he struggled with his command on Thursday as he walked Kris Bryant and Brandon Belt before giving up a two-out double into the left-field corner to Ruf, who had lined out with two outs and a runner in scoring position twice in the series.
“If I hung my hat every time I lined out or didn’t get the job done, I think I’d be doing a disservice to myself and the team,” Ruf said. “You just have to keep the same approach to swing at good pitches and try to hit them hard. Luckily today I pulled it a little more than the last couple.”
Estrada followed with his fourth home run in a Giants uniform as the second baseman stepped up in a big way in place of infielder Wilmer Flores, who was placed on the 10-day injured list Thursday with a left hamstring strain.
Estrada’s home run was the first Williams has given up to a right-handed hitter this season and only the second extra-base hit he’s allowed against a righty in 2021.
“He’s a tremendous pitcher,” Estrada said. “We’re baseball
players and we’re competing, he wants to come out ahead and I want to come out ahead and I’m just glad I was able to contribute.”
The Giants’ scoring threat nearly ended when Bryant was called out at second base on a stolen base attempt, but a lengthy replay review that lasted more than three minutes overturned the call and gave Ruf a chance to bring home Bryant before Estrada broke the game open.
The rally ensured the Giants wouldn’t waste another sensational start from Webb, who gave up just four hits and issued one walk. Three of Milwaukee’s baserunners came during a fourth-inning rally that allowed the Brewers to tie the game against a Giants team that took a first-inning lead on a home run from Austin Slater.
Slater’s leadoff home run off Brewers starter Eric Lauer made him the 10th Giants player to hit at least 10 homers this season, which broke the previous franchise record of nine players in double figures set by the 2000, 1987, 1958 and 1952 clubs. The solo shot into the home bullpen beyond the left-center-field wall also marked the 200th home run hit by the Giants this season, making San Francisco the first club in the majors to clear that threshold.
The milestones are significant, but there was a long stretch during Thursday’s game when they felt empty for a Giants offense that had scored just five runs during its losing streak. Slater’s home run was one of just three hits the club recorded over seven innings against Lauer, who is having a fine season but is not in the same class as the Brewers’ elite starters, Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff.
“Slater’s homer on the first pitch really set the tone,” Ruf said. “We thought we were probably going to be off to something a little bit better than what we did the next seven innings.”
Webb is pitching his way into their class as the Giants’ emerging ace extended his streak of quality starts to eight, which has come during a stretch in which he’s faced four division leaders — the Dodgers, Astros, Brewers and Braves — and another club with realistic postseason hopes, the A’s.
Over his last 14 starts, Webb has posted a 1.46 ERA, but more importantly, the Giants have posted a 13-1 record. Every time they’ve needed a big start, the right-hander has delivered.
Heading into a highly anticipated showdown with the Dodgers, Webb made sure to get the Giants back on track.
“We’ve been on a little skid here,” Webb said. “But it was so much fun watching those guys at the end of the game get it. We were all screaming in (the clubhouse). We needed that.”