Logan Webb followed up his finest start of the season with one nearly as dominant, but the Giants’ previously hot offense went cold.
Webb put up six zeroes before allowing two runs, but San Francisco left 10 on base, going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
With Webb on the losing end of a pitcher’s duel between him and Miles Mikolas (6.1 IP, 0ER, 6K, 2BB), the Giants’ winning streak ends at five. San Francisco (11-14) went 5-3 on its longest home stand of the season, capped by Thursday’s 6-0 loss.
Despite his strong start, the loss drops Webb’s record to 1-5 on the season.
“Very frustrated by it,” Webb said. “I think lead the league in losses now. It’s not a fun place to be.” But I feel like I’ve got to do a better job “
The first four full innings of the game took 58 minutes. The Cardinals mustered three hits, and the Giants just one. Webb and Mikolas were both cruising.
Webb retired 10 straight Cardinals between the third and sixth innings. He upped his changeup usage, locating it mainly inside to lefties and outside to righties.
Through six innings, Webb fanned seven and generated 12 whiffs. He’d also escaped a bases-loaded jam, which Mikolas matched in the fifth.
That Giants rally began with David Villar and Brandon Crawford, who both entered Thursday with batting averages well below .200. But Villar singled and advanced to third on another Crawford single. LaMonte Wade Jr. walked to load the bases, but Villar lost a race to home on a swinging bunt and Joc Pederson lined out to end the threat.
Webb continued to shut down the Cardinals. Two more strikeouts sandwiched a leaping grab by Michael Conforto robbed Paul Goldschmidt of at least a double in the sixth.
Earlier this year, Webb’s stuff was producing more strikeouts than ever, but he uncharacteristically had trouble preventing home runs. His two multi-homer games in his first three starts doubled that of last season. Since 2021, he’s been the best home run suppressor in baseball.
But the home run bug again bit Webb in the seventh. After his 11th straight retired batter, Alec Burleson beat the Giants ace for a solo shot over the right field bricks. The homer came on a rare four-seam fastball by Webb, albeit one that was located well above the letters.
Webb threw seven four-seamers in the outing, using the pitch double his season average.
“Threw more four-seamers today than the last four years,” Webb said. “Just one too many.”
Webb has now allowed seven home runs in six starts. Last year, he gave up 11 in 32.
“With Logan, it’s probably random,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said postgame. “It’s just happening in a bit of bunches early on. He is throwing a ton of strikes, and that’s one of his calling cards. He’s missed with locations in those moments maybe more than usual, but I can’t stress this enough: today was a very well-pitched game by Logan Webb.”
An acrobatic play from Thairo Estrada up the middle — his second of the day after getting hit by a pitch in the chest — was a millisecond away from stranding two runners in scoring position. Instead, another Cardinals run crossed.
Mikolas ended up outdueling Webb, lasting 6.1 shutout innings. The Cardinals added three runs in the eighth with a more accurate double-play throw from Brandon Crawford that extended the inning. The bulk of STL’s rally came from a two-run home run by Paul DeJong off Tristan Beck.
During their five-game winning streak, the Giants averaged 5.6 runs per game. They weren’t overly reliant on the home run. Their previously astronomical strikeout rate leveled.
During the bottom of the eighth inning Thursday, one fan behind home plate put his hat on backwards and egged fans to join him. The Giants’ rally caps worked on Tuesday, when Blake Sabol stunned St. Louis with a towering walkoff home run.
Nobody joined the fan, despite his pleas. He slipped into the concourse before Sabol struck out to strand two more runners, St. Louis added another run off Beck and the Giants went down in order to end it.