Is there a closer controversy brewing? I don’t know. I hope not. The San Francisco Giants are 16-9 on April 23rd following tonight’s 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers — but it didn’t have to be that close.
Ryan Walker has now had back-to-back “Dude, Where’s My Closer?”-level appearances, and tonight’s non-save situation meltdown in the 9th inning of a 4-0 game featured a noticeable velocity drop. He was 96/97 mph in Sunday’s walk-off loss to the Angels and tonight he was more 95/96 — plus, a noticeable drop in spin on his slider (~2,600 rpm Sunday, ~2,550 tonight). That’s with 2.5 days of rest, basically. So, it’s concerning, but it’s not dire.
Why? A few reasons:
* The Giants are 16-9
* It’s April 23rd
* The backup right now is Camilo Doval
It would not make a lot of sense for Walker’s role to have been “just keeping the seat warm until Doval got back up to speed” — at least, not for a team that’s 16-9 on April 23rd. Still, I’m a fan, and yeah, I was unnerved by seeing Ryan Walker… look bad. It’s been a long time. We’re still a couple of weeks removed from an emergency, though. Doval might be The Guy again and if not, there’s always Randy Rodríguez, whom some have called one of the best pitchers in the sport right now.
But that’s a two weeks from now issue — and for the moment, it’s theoretical. Let’s look at the immense bright sides from this one. Tonight felt like the Bustonic ideal of a Giants win. The pitching was great except for Walker. The offense was timely. The defense wasn’t flawless, but it was excellent.
Logan Webb was in the groove early on this one. He had his stuff from first pitch but it took a bit for his sinker to lock in, which wasn’t the case from his dazzling sweeper, which was A+ from the jump. He got 6 swinging strikes with it on the night along with 9 called strikes. He got 4 outs with it, too. The only real hiccup he had tonight was in the 2nd inning, when he ““““““““““walked”””””””””” Rhys Hoskins to leadoff the inning.
Baseball Savant/Statcast
This is likely the pitch that Webb was upset about.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing.bsky.social) April 23, 2025 at 7:24 PM
He struck out the next two hitters before giving up a pair of singles, and to get out of the inning he had to face off against Milwaukee’s presumptive best player, Jackson Chourio.
He struck him out with a high fastball… you know, as Logan Webb so often does. He’s got to be having a lot of fun out there right now because pitching looks very easy for him.
It goes to show just how in command of his arsenal he was tonight. Webb got into a flow that at one point saw him retire 11 in a row. His final line of 6.1 IP 6 H 0 R 3 BB 6 K isn’t quite as impressive as two recent shutout efforts where he recorded double digit strikeouts and allowed just 4 hits but it felt of a kind with those two and reflects a real groove he’s been in to start the season.
And that’s what this game felt like: two starting pitchers in a groove. On the other side, Freddy Peralta had a 3-hit shutout through the first 5 innings and his stuff looked just as good as Webb’s. The difference between them was pitch count. Peralta had 84 through 5 while Webb had 70.
It also felt like both teams went into this one knowing that it was going to be low-scoring and just stayed patient to see which team would bend first. Last night it was the Giants, tonight it was the Brewers, as the Giants exploded (well, okay — exploded for them) with a 4-run 6th. Not as overwhelming as Milwaukee’s 8-run outburst last night, but good enough.
Logan Webb and Freddy Peralta weren’t the only ones throwing strikes tonight:
Yastrzemski had an awesome outfield assist in the 6th on Brewers catcher William Contreras as he tried to go first to third on a single.
Mike Yastrzemski delivers a perfect throw for the 9-5 putout.
So easy, so beautiful.
Christian Koss and Willy Adames both had great plays up the middle tonight, too.
The Brewers’ 6th inning unraveling was because the Giants were able to cash in on the gift Willy Peralta gave them: a bases loaded, no outs situation — traditionally, a death sentence for the Giants’ lineup. Thankfully, Wilmer Flores had that Tenex procedure in the offseason because now he’s back to being the team’s best hitter (as he was in 2023):
I’ve watched this two dozen times already and hope not to tire of it soon. There’s that Statcast term “Swords,” which is a term to describe hitters who have been badly fooled by a pitch and swing their bat more like a sword. Well, here’s an example of a batter using their sword to get a hit.
I’ll end with this moment from the bottom of the 7th: Brewers reliever Craig Yoho Ricky Vaughn’d a fastball, prompting Mike Krukow to chime in with Bob Uecker’s immortal line from the movie Major League: “Juuuust a bit outside.” On the next pitch, Brewers catcher William Contreras took a foul ball to the cup.
Quite a two-pitch sequence here.
An errant pitch led Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper to fondly remember Bob Uecker.
The next pitch was a foul ball that got Brewers catcher William Contreras in an unfortunate spot.
“You don’t get that at any other job.”
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing.bsky.social) 2025-04-24T03:52:18.107Z
It makes perfect sense from a spiritual perspective that the invocation of Bob Uecker’s name (RIP) because of a jolt of sentiment by the speaker would conjure a dark bit of comedy in reaction to said sentiment. Is there a Heaven? I don’t know, but Uecker’s… essence… felt that comment and its accompanying sadness and couldn’t let the moment go by without a joke.
The Brewers’ whole deal is a reinforcement of life’s bittersweet flavor. If you’ve been a longtime fan of the game, you see them and you think of Uecker pretty quickly. You look at their logo — one of the best in the history of pro sports, if we’re being honest — and you smile; but if you know the logo’s history, then feel the tiny bit of sadness that goes with it.
If the Brewers ever make it back to the World Series, unless they’re playing a team of orphans or something, I think most of the country will be behind them. But we’re not there yet. Tonight belonged to the Giants.