Before recording a single out, Logan Webb served up two runs. By the time the first-inning onslaught was over, every single Blue Jay came up to bat.
Webb gave up five runs in the first inning in an unprecedented blip for the Giants ace. The Blue Jays tagged him for four doubles and two singles to take an early lead too big for San Francisco to dwindle in the closed-roofed Rogers Centre.
San Francisco’s No. 1 starter scuffled for just one inning, but that was enough for a 6-1 defeat for the Giants (45-35). The loss is the Giants’ first on the road in June, ending a 10-game road win streak that was a San Francisco-era record.
Before Wednesday, Webb hadn’t allowed more than three runs in a single inning in any of his 16 starts in 2023. In all of 2022, he allowed at least five runs just once.
George Spring led Toronto off with a double deep into the right field corner. Bo Bichette followed him with a single screamed up the middle for the game’s first run.
Then Brandon Belt, who made it clear earlier this week that he was excited to face his former teammate, dug in.
“It’s gonna be cool to face old friends,” Belt said, via The Mercury News. “I’m hoping that I hit homers off everyone one of them…”I don’t want to hurt (Webb’s) feelings. I just want to embarrass his whole family.”
The crack was obviously in classic Belt deadpan jest, but he was true to his word. The second pitch Belt saw — a changeup hanging over the plate — was tasty to Belt. The designated hitter drove it into the left-center gap for a double.
After his slow April, Belt entered Wednesday’s contest with a .932 OPS, thriving as the Captain of the North. He also doubled in the series opener Tuesday.
After Belt, Webb finally got two outs. But he couldn’t escape the inning.
Two more doubles and a single gave Toronto a sharp two-out rally. Webb needed 52 pitches and a mound visit to escape.
There was some bad batted-ball luck baked into the results. Two of the four doubles Webb gave up in the inning registered expected batting averages of .120 and .160, meaning they’d be outs, on average, over 80% of the time. Seemingly everything the Blue Jays hit found grass.
Still, it was the most runs Webb has given up in an inning since May 5, 2021 in Coors Field.
While he settled down to strikeout five in the next four scoreless innings, Webb couldn’t last past the fifth inning. He still leads MLB in innings pitched in what has been a stellar first half coming off his down-ballot Cy Young season last year. But with Wednesday’s loss, his record stands at 7-7.
Austin Slater, who substituted in for Michael Conforto after the starting outfielder exited before his first at-bat with left hamstring tightness, smacked a solo home run, but that was all for the Giants’ run production unit.
Ross Stripling got his first action since he hit the injured list on May 17, allowing one run on four hits in three innings. He got hit hard at times, but the results are encouraging given how ineffective he was before hitting the IL. If the Giants can get him back to where he was at last year, when the righty had a 3.01 ERA for the Blue Jays, that would be a huge addition.
Yet for Wednesday, the game was over after Webb’s worst first inning of his career.