The Giants have tightened their definition of a starting pitcher this season.
If a pitcher is absolutely the best option to take down a lineup multiple times, he is a certain starter. If not, the lines get blurred. Talks of openers and piggybacks emanate.
Unabashedly a starter is Logan Webb. He’s ducked the debate by continuing his ascension to ace status. Even without an All-Star selection, Webb continued to build on his stellar season on Monday night.
Webb, the clear-cut No. 1 starter on the staff, fanned 11 in 6.2 innings, allowing two earned runs. Just one of the seven hits Webb allowed went for extra bases, and he tipped his cap to a standing ovation after his sixth career double-digit strikeout game.
Despite a 3.38 ERA and ranking among the MLB leaders in innings pitched, Webb took a no-decision and remains 7-7 on the year. In eight of his 18 starts now, the Giants have scored two or fewer runs for him.
“Some good, some bad,” Webb said of his start.
It was Camilo Doval, the Giants’ lone All-Star who took the loss on Monday night. He entered the ninth in a 2-2 game and left with his team trailing 6-2, a rare implosion for the dynamite closer.
Before Monday, Doval hadn’t allowed more than one run in a game this season. But against the Mariners, a close foul-or-hit by pitch call didn’t go his way, and his command and management of the running game suffered. The Mariners tacked on four runs on three singles, a double, a sacrifice fly, three steals and a wild pitch.
Doval’s season-high four earned runs set the Giants (46-39) too far behind in a 6-5 loss. Blake Sabol’s second home run of the night brought the Giants within one, but not over the hill. Sabol drove in all of the Giants’ runs with his two bombs.
“He’s an All-Star and one of the better closers in baseball, that’s abundantly clear,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said of Doval. “He also has a little bit of work to do in terms of slowing things down, remembering that he’s controlling the running game. We’ve talked about the steps forward he’s taken in that regard. There are also bunt plays to be aware of, we want him to know those back and forth. We’re working really hard to bring everything up to speed so it can all come together, and tonight it just wasn’t there for him.”
Before Monday’s game, the Giants arrived back home in the Bay around 4:00 a.m.. Their series finale against the Mets, originally their getaway day, got flexed to Sunday Night Baseball. Before that, travel logistics had the club touching down in New York before sunrise and in Toronto at about 4:30, too.
The Giants have had their fair share of travel hardships during the first half of this season. Their April included a strange two-timezone trip to Detroit and Miami plus a not-so holiday in the Mexico City altitude.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler admitted the club’s travel challenges have been “suboptimal,” but views it more as adversity to persevere through rather than an excuse. West coast teams tend to have it worse, but every club has to deal with the test of an MLB schedule.
Webb avoided the travel headache by flying home from New York early. He looked fresh, striking out six in his first three scoreless innings. He frequently froze Seattle hitters with sinkers that looked like they were inside but faded into the zone.
The ace ran into trouble only in the fourth inning, when a bunt and bloop single created tension. Both runners advanced on a passed ball by catcher Blake Sabol, then a Mariner scored on a wild pitch that Sabol likely should’ve blocked. The rookie catcher tried to back-hand a changeup in the dirt with a runner on third base when he likely could have dropped his body in front of it.
LaMonte Wade Jr. ended the inning with a diving catch at first base and Sabol quickly made up for his mistakes. In the bottom half of the fourth, Sabol crushed a 407-foot homer to center field, giving San Francisco a 2-1 lead.
The go-ahead shot was Sabol’s ninth of the season. While still raw behind the plate, his power potential — and Rule 5 Draft restriction — has earned him a stable place on the Giants’ roster. He credited pregame work with Barry Bonds, the special advisor with free range of the batting cage, for his five-RBI outburst.
Webb struck out the side in the sixth to reach double digits, and added a fourth straight punchout to lead off the seventh. But two singles and an RBI fielder’s choice chased him out of the game with two outs in the inning. The sold-out Oracle Park crowd of 40,691 rose to their feet as he headed for the dugout in a tie game.
Although Webb was unaffected, the tough schedule circumstances may explain a bit of San Francisco’s offensive sluggishness. SF has averaged 3.2 runs per game in its past 10 contests before Monday, often struggling to produce early in games. Even with Mike Yastrzemski and Michael Conforto back in the lineup, the order has been thinned by injuries; Thairo Estrada fractured his hand and Brandon Crawford is banged up.
SF’s hitters appeared spent most of the night against Seattle. Sabol’s fourth-inning homer was just one of three Giants hits in the first eight innings.
So when the Mariners manufactured four runs off a frustrated, sped-up Doval in the ninth, not even three more RBI for Sabol were enough to complete the comeback.