© Ron Chenoy | 2021 Sep 7
It took Chi Chi Gonzalez and the Colorado Rockies 15 minutes to record the first out of Tuesday’s game. In that time, the Giants recorded three consecutive doubles. At 5:58, 18 minutes after first pitch, Brandon Crawford’s one-handed barrel singled home Buster Posey from third to make it 3-0. At 5:59, Rockies reliever Ashton Goudeau began warming up in the bullpen.
Gonzalez and his 6.13 season ERA ended the sitcom-lengthed first inning two minutes later by getting Evan Longoria to ground into a double play. But it was clear from the start that this was a poor matchup for Colorado. Opposite Gonzalez, the Giants had Logan Webb, who’s been virtually unbeatable since early May.
The first inning got San Francisco’s lineup in motion, and it didn’t stop. Capitalizing on the hot start, the Giants (87-50) coasted to a 12-3 victory, their third straight. San Francisco maintains the NL West lead, as well as the best record in baseball, with the win. They head into Wednesday’s series finale on a Rocky Mountain High note.
Tommy La Stella, Brandon Belt and Buster Posey started the game with three consecutive doubles — all coming on 3-2 pitches. It wasn’t long before SF knocked Gonzalez out of the game; Goudeau threw his first pitch in relief for Gonzalez at 6:21 — one out into the second inning. That was after Gonzalez surrendered a triple to Steven Duggar then a smoked double to Webb. He allowed five earned runs and got just four outs in 51 minutes of game time.
Colorado chipped into the Giants’ lead in the fourth when Charlie Blackmon singled then scored on a C.J. Cron double. In his first start against the Rockies earlier this season, Webb blew up in the fourth inning, but this time he left Cron at third by striking out Garrett Hampson and forcing Sam Hillard into a soft groundout back to the mound.
But the Giants remained in control. Steven Duggar ripped his second triple of the night in the top of the fifth, clearing the loaded bases. Duggar became the first Giant with two triples in a game since Stephen Vogt in 2019 and the first with two triples and a double since Eduardo Nuñez in 2016.
Since rejoining the team after a month at Triple-A, Duggar has provided a jolt. He said since the second he got optioned to Sacramento, he’d been mentally preparing to contribute for San Francisco. His first at-bat back with the Giants, he roped a triple against the Dodgers. The next game, he went 2-for-5 as a last-minute starter after Yastrzemski got scratched from the lineup with a stomach illness.
Duggar’s second triple made it 8-1. It was the Giants 12th hit, nine of which went for extra bases. None left Coors Field until Mike Yastrzemski’s career-high 22nd in the seventh inning, which pushed SF’s lead to 11-1.
Duggar (3-for-5, 3RBI) and the Giants lineup provided more than enough run support for Webb. The Giants are now 14-1 in his last 15 turns in the rotation. In that span, which goes back to May 11, Webb has allowed 16 earned runs in 87.1 innings (1.65 ERA).
Against the Rockies, Webb pounded the strike zone, throwing 66 of his 85 pitches for strikes and avoiding walks altogether. He used his slider to punch out batters and kept his sinker low to induce grounders; through seven innings, he struck out nine and recorded seven groundouts. Though his 14-game streak of allowing no more than two earned runs was snapped in the seventh inning, it was yet another impressive start for the 24-year-old.
The Giants entered the Rockies series coming off two consecutive bullpen games. Manager Gabe Kapler’s plan to save his taxed relievers was essentially to get quality starts out of Kevin Gausman and Webb to keep SF’s most valuable relievers from throwing. They both went seven.
Webb seemingly came out of nowhere this year. But his ascent is real, and so is the idea that San Francisco should have two top-10 Cy Young starters.
Because of their offensive eruption, the Giants didn’t need Webb’s best. They got it again anyway.