SAN FRANCISCO -- Logan Webb wanted to sneak a peek. He knew he needed to stay locked in ahead of the ninth inning, but he was curious. The iPad was right there. It would only take a second.
"In the (eighth), with two outs, it was like a weird, random thought -- I don't know why I would think of this -- but I almost tried to look at the time on the iPad," the Giants ace later said Wednesday night. "I was like, I probably shouldn't do that."
There would be no jinx. Webb went back and breezed through the ninth on 10 pitches, completing a 106-pitch shutout, the second of his six-year MLB career.
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The 1-0 win was a big one. It capped a 5-1 homestand, and Webb just about single-handedly prevented what could have been another awful loss to an A's team that has scored as much as anyone this month but still has pitching issues.
The Giants' lineup struggled to hit old friend Ross Stripling, but Webb needed just one run. He got it in the fifth and cruised through the tape, winning in 1 hour and 55 minutes.
Webb shaved a minute off his personal best, set last year when he blanked the Colorado Rockies for his first career shutout. The game was tied for the fourth-fastest in MLB this season and was 12 minutes quicker than the Giants’ previous low in 2024.
It was the quickest for the franchise since it played 1 hour, 51 minutes in the first game of a doubleheader in Pittsburgh in 2007. It also was the second fastest in the history of Oracle Park, trailing only a 1-hour, 49-minute win over the Pirates on May 9, 2005. On that night, both Brett Tomko of the Giants and Mark Redman of the Pirates threw complete games.
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It was 8:41 p.m. at Oracle Park when Webb jogged out to the mound for the bottom of the ninth, delighting the big crowd. That part of this night never was in doubt.
Catcher Patrick Bailey asked Webb after eight if he was good, and the pitcher didn't even say anything. Manager Bob Melvin had zero interest in even thinking of going to his bullpen.
How did the conversation go with Webb before the ninth?
"It didn't," Melvin said. "I let him walk right by."
Melvin had so much faith that he would let Webb give up a run in the ninth if it came to that. It didn't, as Webb worked around a two-out single to get the third complete game of his career.
Webb's pitch count was under control after he worked his way out of a jam in the first, and in the late innings, he had a shot at another quirky feat. A "Maddux" is when a starting pitcher throws a shutout with fewer than 100 pitches, and Webb had an outside shot at it.
He was at 75 pitches after six and needed just 10 in the seventh. He came close, and he smiled as he admitted that's on his to-do list.
"That's the next one," he said.
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