SAN FRANCISCO – Giants manager Bob Melvin got as close as he could to calling Thursday’s game against the Atlanta Braves a “must win” following his team’s embarrassing 11-run blowout loss to the club that holds control of the third and final spot in the NL wild-card race.
On Thursday, with the possibility of being swept by the Braves and dropping their fifth straight game, an ace and a rookie might have just saved the Giants’ 2024 season in a 6-0 win, getting them back to .500 at 62-62.
Logan Webb set the tone from the start, striking out leadoff batter Michael Harris II on four pitches. All Webb needed was 12 pitches to get out of the first inning, giving a clear indication of the gem he was about to spin.
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“It really was kind of a must-win for us,” Melvin conceded after Thursday’s victory. “Those are the guys you want on the mound in those type of games, and he came as advertised.”
Webb threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings, earning his 11th win of the season, which tied his total from a year ago. The Braves mustered a measly four hits off the Giants’ All-Star starting pitcher, who tallied seven strikeouts and walked only one batter while battling an undisclosed illness.
The leader of a pitching staff that has faced its ups and downs this season, Webb is the ultimate throwback in today’s modern age of baseball, always relied on to pitch deep into games. Thursday was a game where Melvin badly needed to preserve arms, putting his faith into Webb once again saving the day.
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His league-leading 26th start of the season also was the 14th time Webb has pitched seven or more innings this year after reaching the feat on 16 occasions last season, finishing second to now-teammate Blake Snell in NL Cy Young award voting. Webb on Thursday became the first Giants pitcher to have 14 or more starts of at least seven innings in consecutive seasons since Madison Bumgarner did so four years in a row from 2013 through 2016.
Webb also is the first major league pitcher of any team to hit that mark in consecutive seasons since Jacob deGrom and Zack Wheeler in 2018 and 2019.
“Every game you want to win,” Webb said. “It wasn’t like an added thing. I only get to play once every five days. I’m just going out there and trying to do my job.”
But there’s no denying the ultra-competitor found some extra juice at a time on the calendar when many pitchers can begin to fade. Webb’s sinker hit 95 miles per hour three times, topping out at 95.6, which is 3.3 mph faster than his season average. And the only trouble he ran into only made him lock in even more.
Melvin and Webb were both still equally baffled by a controversial call the on-field umpires and replay review center somehow missed on what looked to be an out at second base, but instead was ruled an error by second baseman Casey Schmitt when he dropped the exchange while looking to turn a double play in the fourth inning. Webb responded by striking out the next batter and then getting out of the inning off an impressive unassisted double play made by first baseman Mark Canha.
“I think I was just mad,” Webb said. “I don’t know how that didn’t get overturned. I thought it should have been called out in the first place, but I think I used that to try and get the hitters out.”
Following the umpiring flub, Webb retired nine batters in a row. None of this is new to Webb. It is for rookie center fielder Grant McCray, though.
McCray, 23, recorded his first hit, RBI and his first home run in his second big league game. His first hit came on a bases loaded bunt that brought home Jerar Encarnacion for the first run of the day. McCray’s next hit came four innings later and went 404 feet over the center-field wall.
While they differed in distance by 402 feet, McCray says he blacked out from pure excitement in both instances.
As McCray chose sprinting around the bases over a slow jog, his dad and sister raced up and down the family section of the stands, receiving congratulations from everybody in sight. When he crossed home plate, McCray made the shape of a heart to his family and his dad threw it right back at him. The love was felt from the press box, but there’s something bigger now at play as well.
His father, Rodney, appeared in 67 major league games over three seasons from 1990 through 1992. He collected three hits in 14 at-bats. None went over the wall, giving Grant ultimate bragging rights over the elder McCray.
“Yup, I sure do,” McCray said behind a smile that isn’t leaving him anytime soon. “I already told him. When I went outside I told him. I was like, ‘You don’t have a homer in the big leagues. I do, man!’”
Both balls, the bunt and the home run, were returned to McCray after the game. Regarding the one that was crushed to center field and landed in the visitor’s bullpen, McCray has a decision to make.
“I might give it to him,” McCray said. “Who knows? Just depends on how I’m feeling that day.”
The feeling in the Giants’ clubhouse was the opposite of the vibes that followed them less than 24 hours before. A loss would have put them 5.5 games behind the Braves in the wild-card standings before a welcomed day off. There still are 38 games to go and plenty of work to be done to climb up the standings.
If the Giants are to make a run, they have a star and a rookie playing his second major league game to thank.