SAN FRANCISCO — After an incredible double play to end the top of the second inning and escape a no-out bases-loaded jam, a hyped up Logan Webb belted three words that could be heard loud and clear even just reading his lips through a TV screen.
“Let’s f–king go.”
A few hours later, Webb was in a much different mood speaking in a much different tone after the Giants’ 13-7 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday at Oracle Park.
The Giants ace couldn’t answer any of the media’s questions without blaming himself for the loss and acknowledging he must be better.
Webb gave up 10 hits and six runs (six earned) while striking out five and walking two through 4.0 innings before being pulled after facing his second bases-loaded jam. He also gave up one solo home run to Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani.
Webb called his performance “unacceptable.”
“Not great,” Webb said of his outing. “I really let the team down today, but yeah. Just bad overall.”
But “great” is exactly how the Giants were feeling early in the game, when the offense got off to a strong start and scored four runs on Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw.
While San Francisco’s offense has let Webb down on multiple occasions this season, it did its part early to lay out the red carpet for a vintage Webb gem.
This time, however, Webb was the one unable to hold up his end of the bargain.
“The feeling was good,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said postgame of the team’s start. “We kind of had our way with us and got him on the run early. Scored four after giving up a run in the first. You feel pretty good about our chances, especially with Webby on the mound.
“But he just didn’t have his great stuff today. Some ground balls found some holes and then they hit some balls harder in the gaps, and next thing you know, he’s out of there after four innings. It went from a pretty good feeling to, I mean, they had 17 hits tonight, so it was tough holding them down.”
Webb had his moments, though, that seemed to have the making of a momentum push. He struck out Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy in back-to-back at-bats, and was just one out away from limiting the damage after previously giving up the homer to Ohtani to begin the inning. But Teoscar Hernandez’s RBI double brought Los Angeles within one.
By that time, Webb already had given up three runs and eight hits.
He returned in the fourth inning and escaped with no damage done, but then got himself back in a bases-loaded jam to begin the fifth before his day was done.
“Once he struck out Muncy and Freeman, we felt pretty good about where he was going from there,” Melvin said. “And then gave up the double in right center field and it just got away from him a little bit. You want to be patient with him because you want him to be able to figure it out and keep us in the game. Unfortunately it just didn’t happen today.”
Webb admitted he was overthinking a little and “trying to be cute” with his stuff, again confessing he has to be better the next time he takes the mound. And he, nor Melvin, denied the elephant in the room.
The Giants had an opportunity to move into a playoff spot with a win on Saturday after the New York Mets’ collapse continued with an eighth straight loss earlier Saturday afternoon. The Mets’ game was wrapping up just as the Giants took the field to warm up about three hours before their matchup with the Dodgers. But they were keeping tabs, and once the Mets lost, they knew what was at stake.
“Everybody knew what was going on today,” Melvin said. “We had our hitters meeting today. The game was just finishing up. Everyone knows. But we’re trying to stay pretty simple and just keep riding this momentum that we have and let’s go out and play our best game today and move on to the next day.”
Webb, too, acknowledged San Francisco’s missed opportunity.
“Obviously, it’s hard to hide from it,” Webb said. “Everyone knows what’s going on. I know about it, but I got to be better. … With that team losing, it was kind of in our hands, and I did a bad job today.
“We just got to try and go out tomorrow and, for me personally, just cheering on guys as much as I can to try and help us win a series.”
Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast
Read the full article here