Giants win to improve to 14-4 start at Oracle
As one Bay Area baseball team considers ditching its stadium and moving elsewhere, another can’t get enough of playing at home.
With a 4-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday, the Giants completed a two-game sweep to move a season-high eight games above .500 with a 22-14 record.
Behind a career-high 10 strikeouts from starter Logan Webb, a first-inning rally against Rangers righty Jordan Lyles and a costly miscue from Texas’ defense, the Giants are now 14-4 at Oracle Park this season and continue to win with lights-out pitching along the waterfront.
More than two decades after the Giants first opened the gates at China Basin, the club has followed a consistent blueprint for winning that now spans multiple front office regimes at one of the most pitcher-friendly parks in the majors. The Giants have been at their best through the years with strong pitching, excellent defense and timely hitting and they had all of that during a 4-1 homestand that began with two victories over a Padres that provided them a more comfortable cushion in the National League West standings.
After falling behind 1-0 in top of the first, the Giants tied the game in the bottom of the frame on a Mike Yastrzemski RBI double before first baseman Brandon Belt drove Yastrzemski in with a single to right field. Belt, who normally closes games on defense for
the Giants, was removed in the top of the eighth for unspecified reasons as manager Gabe Kapler subbed in Mauricio Dubón and shifted Wilmer Flores from second to first.
A day after Rangers third baseman Charlie Culberson and first baseman Nate Lowe failed to connect on a low throw that led to a Giants insurance run, the duo made the exact same mistake in the sixth inning and it gifted the Giants a pair of runs that proved to be the difference in Tuesday’s outcome.
Catcher Curt Casali has struggled at the plate this season, but by hitting a two-out grounder to Culberson, he put pressure on the Rangers’ defense and Texas’ corner infielders failed to help one another out as a bouncing throw that had a chance to be scooped up rolled away from the first base bag, allowing Evan Longoria and Brandon Crawford to score.
Webb battled command issues throughout the first inning as he walked a pair of Rangers hitters and threw more balls than strikes, but he quickly settled in and only allowed two more Texas hitters to reach base in six-plus innings on Tuesday.
Webb secured a spot in the starting rotation at the beginning of the season with a dominant changeup that was one of the best pitches any starter threw in Cactus League play and he was able to regain his touch with the pitch at Oracle Park.
Of the 25 changeups he threw against Texas, Webb induced 13 swings, generated nine whiffs and only allowed two balls in play, both of which resulted in outs. It only helped matters that Rangers hitters entered Tuesday’s game hitting .190 against changeups this season.
Despite giving up a leadoff home run to start the seventh against David Dahl, Webb still notched his third quality start of the season, which have all come in his last four outings.