The ace is back.
Having a Logan Webb on your team is a good thing. It’s a swell strategy. Were I a baseball consultant, one of the first things I would recommend to my clients would be that they acquire a Logan Webb, or a close approximation. And then I’d get paid handsomely for such smart thoughts.
The beauty of having Webb is knowing that every fifth day you’ll almost surely have a chance to win. In 2023, Webb made 33 starts and pitched at least five innings in 32 of them. He made it through at least six innings and allowed no more than two runs in well over half of his starts. He always gave the San Francisco Giants a chance.
The ugly of having Webb is knowing that if you squander that chance, you’ll feel like quite the doofus. You’ll have egg on your face, only that egg will be a $75 truffle omelet at the French Laundry breakfast popup that you accidentally stuck your entire face in while trying to get an up-close picture for your social media.
The Giants lost more games than they won when Webb pitched last year. They didn’t really deserve him. That’s the closest thing you can get to a negative trait of Webb’s. You can almost hear him in the job interview: What’s my biggest weakness? I’m glad you asked. My biggest weakness is that I’m so good that you’ll feel like a gigantic dingbat if you lose when I pitch. Also, I’m a Kings fan.
The Giants have become artistic masters of losing when Webb starts. They find ways to tack runs next to his name that don’t deserve to be there. They completely forget to score runs of their own. They take all the things they’re supposed to do and then do the opposite.
And as a result, Webb has learned to pitch as though he has no margin for error.
So you were forgiven for the wave of pessimism and sadness that overcame you just four pitches into Thursday night’s home game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team the Giants plan on competing with for a Wild Card spot … or perhaps even NL West supremacy.
The first batter of the game, Ketel Marte, singled to center field. Exactly one pitch later, Corbin Carroll singled to right. You trusted Webb to limit the damage, but against a team that is fifth in the Majors in runs per game, you still expected at least a run to cross the plate. And as the Giants have shown repeatedly, one run is often daunting enough for them to roll over and play dead.
It was with that in mind that you realized that, two batters and four pitches into the game, the outcome already was hanging in the balance.
Here’s what followed from Webb:
Fielder’s choice
Strikeout
Fielder’s choice
Groundout
Groundout
Strikeout
Groundout
Strikeout
Strikeout
Lineout
Groundout
Groundout
Groundout
Groundout
Groundout
Flyout
Groundout
Strikeout
Groundout
Walk
Groundout
Dugout hugs
Sensing that giving up one run might be giving up one run too many, Webb set about to reduce one of MLB’s most potent offenses into a bunch of croquet players with tight pants, meekly and mildly rolling the ball on the ground.
Arizona’s hitters looked less frustrated and more befuddled. They were doing all the things they normally do, only the results weren’t the same. What was going on?
After retiring 19 consecutive batters, Webb finally caved and issued a bases on balls to the aptly-named Christian Walker. And then, with the pitch count nearing and eventually cresting 100 pitches as he loaded the count to Eugenio Suárez, Webb provided the visual that defined the game, spinning to pick off Walker who, caught in the land of shame and pickles, slipped and fell on his keister.
He sat there, defeated. What’s the use, you could nearly hear him mutter.
“For me, I put on my scorecard: Putout-Grounds Crew.”
Duane Kuiper sums it up neatly after Logan Webb picks off Christian Walker. pic.twitter.com/6GDkBTNevS
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 19, 2024
It was a brilliant outing that had set the Giants up for the narrowest of wins, with the score knotted at 1-0. A score secured when starting pitcher Ryne Nelson had to leave the game after two innings following a wildly-painful looking comebacker off the elbow, and Logan Allen — making his season debut, gave up a leadoff double to Patrick Bailey, an infield single to Jung Hoo Lee, and a sacrifice fly to LaMonte Wade Jr., who was utterly unperturbed by the switch to a southpaw.
On the board first ☝️ pic.twitter.com/5usnlfVE6U
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) April 19, 2024
That same 1-0 score was emphasized in the eighth inning by Tyler Rogers and Mike Yastrzemski; the former pitching his best frame of the year, and the latter aiding with a remarkable catch in which he seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Mike with the moves pic.twitter.com/DJt84JFYSu
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) April 19, 2024
The stage was set for drama, tension, and gallant and theatrical entrance by Camilo Doval under the new-but-already-covered-in-cobwebs spotlights of Oracle Park. 1-0! What could be better?
Well, runs, high-fives, and a stress-free ninth, I suppose. Which is exactly what the Giants ultimately provided, allowing Doval to take a seat and Ryan Walker to recalibrate, striking out the side in a low-stress ninth inning.
The eighth-inning rally began with a deep fly ball from Nick Ahmed, who has made no secret about his hard feelings towards the Diamondbacks, the team that employed him for his whole career until an unceremonious midseason DFA last year. Ahmed overtly wanted to stick it to his old squad, and so far had done exactly that with his glove. But in the eighth he had grander visions, and came so close to hitting a home run that the eager Oracle Park lights went off and MLB’s app informed viewers that a dinger had been secured.
Instead, it was just a double, but the Giants were cooking.
The next batter was Lee, who hit a difficult chopper to Marte at second, and then provided the Giants with all sorts of poetry. A year after the Diamondbacks ran all around, over, and through the Giants — making a mockery of the athleticism differential — it was Lee’s speed that clearly flustered Marte into an error, and now the Giants were not just cooking, but cooking with grease. Delicious grease, no less. Wade drew a four-pitch walk, and now the bases were loaded, but the most dangerous man the Giants are meant to employ, Jorge Soler, grounded into a fielder’s choice, with Ahmed out at home.
And then came the decision. With Michael Conforto due up, Torey Lovullo brought in a lefty. Bob Melvin, a breath of fresh not-over-thinking-every-decision air, countered with Wilmer Flores. Melvin hasn’t been platooning Conforto much — or at all, really — but the time was ripe.
And Flores made his manager look good, ripping an insurance double into the corner.
Flo Knows pic.twitter.com/mqu5amIbBM
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) April 19, 2024
Melvin’s decision-making wasn’t done yet. There were still insurance runs to chase, and after Matt Chapman was intentionally walked and Thairo Estrada popped out, the bases were loaded with two outs, and Yastrzemski was due up against a lefty.
With Austin Slater and Tom Murphy on the bench, Melvin stuck with Yaz. And, on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Yastrzemski lined a single that turned the outcome from scary to secure. You could almost see the weight lifted off of Yaz.
It was a complete win — arguably the best of the season. The Giants might not overpower teams, but they can stifle them, incapacitate them, and attack when the moment is just right, like a spider watching a helpless creature caught in its web.
It helps when Logan’s on the mound. But it’s a usable blueprint the other four passes through, too.