S.F.’s Webb delivers on mound, at plate to extend West lead
Pitching? Logan Webb can do that — he’s faring as well, if not better, than anyone else in the Giants’ rotation.
Hitting? Apparently he can do that, too. Always enthusiastic swinging the bat, be it in a game or in batting practice, Webb came just a foot shy of a grand slam Thursday at Oracle Park and settled for a two-run single off the wall in dead center.
That paired nicely with Webb’s six shutout innings against the Rockies in San Francisco’s 7-0 victory, which pushed the Giants’ lead in the NL West to five games over the Dodgers.
At 74-41, San Francisco has the best record in the majors, and its mark through 115 games is the team’s best since 1993, when it was 77-38.
Webb allowed only three hits, two of them in his final inning of work and had he covered first on Connor Joe’s grounder to the right side, it might have been just two hits. He walked two, hit a batter and struck out eight.
His hit was his second of the season, and he doubled his RBI total to four. “That was a big swing,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “Logan has power — if nothing else.”
On the mound, Webb seems to be getting better and better. Over his past 10 outings, he’s 5-0 with a 1.53 ERA, striking out 57 in 53 innings and walking 12.
“Ever since he came off the IL, he’s been an absolute gem,” catcher Curt Casali said. “The first sinker he threw, I just missed. There was so much depth and lateral movement.”
The Rockies were one of the only clubs to give Webb much difficulty this season 2— he’d allowed nine runs in 8 ⁄3 innings in two starts against them. His May 5 start at Denver was his worst of the year, with the Rockies scoring six run in his 32⁄3 innings.
Webb is especially effective when working with Casali, with a 1.69 ERA in eight games. Perhaps this should come as no surprise because Casali seems to be a magic charm, period, for the Giants, who are 32-8 in his starts. He has caught eight of the team’s 13 shutouts. And since he came off the injured list June 12, Casali is batting .333 with 15 extrabase hits.
“I’m not going to try to take any spotlight away from my counterpart,” Casali said. “It’s truly a team effort with Buster (Posey). It’s just been awesome to play with him and work with him and a lot of that has carried over into my starts.”
Casali was among the hitting stars again Thursday. He walked and scored the Giants’ first run in the second inning, taking second on a wild pitch and coming around on Alex Dickerson’s two-out double as the Rockies elected to pitch to Dickerson with first base open rather than putting him on and facing Webb.
In the fourth, Casali ripped an RBI double to left and this time, with first open, the Rockies decided to walk Dickerson intentionally.
That’s when Webb absolutely crushed a fastball from Germán Márquez that slammed off the fence in front of the Rockies’ bullpen, and Sam Hilliard zipped it back to the infield so fast, Dickerson had to hold at second and Webb at first.
No problem for the red-hot Giants. LaMonte Wade Jr. launched a homer into the arcade seats in right-center, his 15th, tying him with Posey and Brandon Belt for third on the team after Brandon Crawford (19) and Mike Yastrzemski (18). Wade had not hit more than 11 in any of his previous eight pro seasons.