© Brett Davis | 2021 Aug 28
The Giants are just about unbeatable when it’s 24-year-old Logan Webb’s turn in the rotation, and the Atlanta Braves learned that on Saturday night.
In Logan Webb’s last 13 starts, spanning back to May 11 against Texas, he’s allowed 12 earned runs in 73.1 innings — good for a 1.47 ERA. He hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of those games, the second-longest streak since 1901, commonly recognized as the modern era.
The Giants are 12-1 in those 13 contests. As unhittable as Webb has been, the Giants have been just as unbeatable.
And Saturday night’s seven-inning shutout in Atlanta may have been the most impressive of them all.
Webb became the first Giant to work a three-pitch inning in more than a decade. He forced the Braves into two key double plays to prevent runs. Even when he didn’t have the best command, he battled through Atlanta’s tough lineup to deal seven scoreless innings.
Behind one of Webb’s best career starts, the Giants bounced back from Friday night’s 6-5 loss with a wire-to-wire 5-0 victory. Webb settled in after a shaky start — by his newly established standards — to completely shut down the Braves. The win sets up a Sunday rubber match with San Francisco’s series-winning streak, currently at nine, at stake.
The Giants led nearly the entire game, starting with the second hitter of the game: second baseman Tommy La Stella.
La Stella, who has reached safely in nine of the last 10 games, launched a home run to right field in the first inning off Huascar Ynoa. His solo shot traveled just over where his would-be game-tying homer would’ve gone last night had it snuck over Joc Pederson’s glove. This one, though, wasn’t close.
After the series-opening loss, Kapler praised how La Stella “grinds” at-bats.
“From the very first pitch, he has a little zone that he’s looking in,” Kapler said of La Stella. “And if it’s not in that zone, he’s not going to take a swing. He’s not going to pass at it. If it is in that zone, he’s going to take a very aggressive swing. When he’s not in a perfect position, he’s still able to find the sweet spot on the bat. That doesn’t mean he drives the ball out of the yard, but it means he gives himself a chance to get a hit and sometimes gets an extra base hit.”
Later, the Giants added another run after Webb helped himself by knocking a double down the third-base line off Ynoa. La Stella’s sacrifice fly to right scored, but SF left two runners on base that inning.
Although Webb staved the Braves off, he did so without having his best stuff. Several times when Buster Posey set up low and outside, he misfired his sinker up and in. On one such instance, he hit Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud with the first pitch of his at-bat.
Webb threw 62 pitches through the first three innings. But he only needed three to get through the fourth and then nine in the fifth. Webb’s fourth inning was the first time since Madison Bumgarner in 2010 that a Giants pitcher completed an inning with just three pitches. An inefficient night suddenly turned into a masterclass of quick outs.
And it would’ve been quick for Webb in the sixth, too. He served up a double-play ball for Wilmer Flores — in the lineup for Kris Bryant (side tightness) at third, but Flores chucked his throw to second into right field. Webb still got out of it by forcing another double play, this time a chopper right back to him, to end the inning and strand the Braves at first and third.
Webb overcame Flores’ error and kept Atlanta off the scoreboard. Mike Yastrzemski handed him an insurance run with his 21st — tying a career high – in the top of the seventh off Richard Rodriguez.
Strong situational hitting from Darin Ruf and Yastrzemski led to two more in the eighth. Tyler Rogers and Jay Jackson continued Webb’s shutout ball.
But it took a special start to shut down the Braves, a top-10 offense in MLB recently off a nine-game winning streak. And Webb, as he has for over three months, came through.