SAN FRANCISCO – The offense-starved Giants scored just one run off former teammate Ross Stripling, but with the way Logan Webb pitched, it hardly mattered as they beat the Oakland Athletics 1-0 on Wednesday.
Webb (8-8) was masterful while spinning the third complete game and second shutout of his MLB career. The Giants’ All-Star allowed five hits – all singles – and had six strikeouts with one walk.
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San Francisco’s ace, who leads the majors in innings pitched, needed 106 pitches to get the win. Webb allowed a two-out single to Abraham Toro in the ninth inning before inducing a groundout from Seth Brown as an Oracle Park crowd of 38,668 roared.
Webb’s other shutout came against the Colorado Rockies on June 7, 2023. That game also ended 1-0.
It’s only the second time during the 2024 MLB season that the Giants (54-56) have won a 1-0 game.
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It also marked the 1,571st win of manager Bob Melvin’s career, tying him for 24th place on the all-time list with Hall of Famer Dick Williams.
Webb got his day started by pitching out of a jam in the first inning.
After Oakland’s Miguel Andujar reached on a one-out single in the first inning and advanced to third when JJ Bleday’s sharp grounder glanced off the glove of diving second baseman Brett Wisely into left field, Webb retired A’s sluggers Brent Rooker and Shea Langeliers via looking strikeouts.
The Giants couldn’t muster much offense against Stripling, who went 0-5 in 22 games with San Francisco in 2023.
Brett Wisely drove in the game’s only run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning.
Here are the takeaways from Wednesday’s game:
Stranded Yet Again
Once again, the Giants’ failures to produce with men on base came back to bite them, particularly with guys in scoring position.
Matt Chapman doubled off the wall in left field leading off the second but didn’t get very far after that. Chapman moved to third on Michael Conforto’s groundout before Tyler Fitzgerald and Mike Yastrzemski both popped out.
That has been a troubling trend during the 2024 campaign for the Giants, who entered the day 13th in the majors with a .245 batting average with runners in scoring position.
Wisely Gets An RBI
Brett Wisely’s career got off to a solid start for the first two months after he was called up from the minors, but his numbers had been slipping in July.
The young infielder, who drove in six runs in May and nine in June, had knocked in a run only once in his previous 13 games before delivering a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning for the Giants’ only run of the night.
It might not seem like much, but getting production out of the bottom of the lineup is critical for San Francisco.
Conforto Ready For A New Month
Michael Conforto hasn’t come close to reaching expectations that were set for him this season, and Wednesday’s game against the A’s was a continuation of his frustrations.
Conforto went into the day batting .225, the second-lowest mark of his career. That number dropped to .223 after the veteran outfielder was held hitless in three at-bats.
Conforto grounded out to second in each of his first two at-bats against Stripling, then struck out swinging against reliever T.J. McFarland.
All season long, Conforto has swung the bat fairly well, but he has to be happy to see the calendar flip months. In his last 18 games dating to July 9, Conforto hit just .148 (8-for-54).
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