Giants continue to roll at Oracle Park
Giants continue to roll at Oracle Park, thanks in big part to Webb’s gem
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.
“It’s pretty awesome that we’re able to come in front of our home fans and play good baseball,” first baseman Brandon Belt said. “We’re not playing terrible on the road, but maybe we can pick it up a little bit and I think that will help us in the long run. But to be able to come home in front of our fans, it’s been a lot of fun.”
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 multi
ple front office regimes at one of the most pitcherfriendly 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.
“I think you look at the three years we won here and 2016 as well, it was good starting pitching, good defense and great atbats,” Webb said.
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 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 with left side tightness.
“I’ve probably been feeling it for a week,” Belt said. “It’s something I’ve dealt with before and it’s not a huge deal, but it can become a bigger deal if you don’t watch it. It was mainly precautionary.”
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. The Giants are happy Webb is pitching better than he was at the beginning of the season, but they know he’s not a finished product.
“There’s even more in there,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “He can be around the plate a little bit more, he can attack the
strike zone and get ahead in more counts and this is what excites us about Logan Webb. We’re not going to be satisfied until we’ve seen his best and I don’t think we’ve seen it yet.”
When Webb missed the swing of Nick Solak with a changeup to end the sixth, the 24-year-old right-hander became the youngest Giants starter since Madison Bumgarner in September, 2013 to rack up double-digit strikeouts in a game.
By that point in his career, Bumgarner had already won a pair of World Series and was one of the best pitchers in the league, but since his arrival in the big leagues, the Giants have clearly struggled to develop homegrown starting pitching talent.
Webb still has the potential to be the next homegrown success story, and with more outings like the one he produced against the Rangers, the Giants will continue to gain confidence he can be a big part of their future.
“I’m happy that they challenge me for sure,” Webb said. “I think that helps me a lot. It’s definitely something we talk about in here too and I’ll keep it at that. I like the challenge.”
As for the future of the other Bay Area baseball team? Webb wants to keep his neighbors close by.
“It would suck for Northern California and the Bay Area (to lose the A’s,)” Webb said. “They lost the Warriors, the Raiders and if they lost the A’s, that would just suck for that city and the fans there.”