Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
SAN FRANCISCO — Reyes Moronta threw a pitch, and the excitement at the glimpses of the future from both Logan Webb and Mauricio Dubon washed away. The feeling of anticipation for Sept. 1 and fresh faces and new debuts took a back seat. A final Pablo Sandoval at-bat, potentially looming Sunday, drifted far off. The final result of the game suddenly felt inconsequential.
Reyes Moronta threw a sixth-inning, 98-mph fastball to Luis Urias on Saturday, took a beat, and then crumpled to the Oracle Park mound. He rolled off and remained down for several minutes. After he rose, he was able to walk off, but a trainer held his right (throwing) arm, which hung down awkwardly.
The Giants dropped the game, 4-1, to the Padres in front of 36,424, but they might have lost something far greater.
Moronta, one of the bullpen fixtures with perhaps the best stuff on the staff, has been one of Bruce Bochy’s most trusted relievers, the fireman who puts out blazes in the middle innings, typically saving a floundering starter. He entered to bail Webb out of a runner-on-second jam. It took three pitches for Moronta himself to need saving, and a pall was cast over the rest of the San Francisco proceedings.
Reyes Moronta collapsed on the mound holding his pitching arm. pic.twitter.com/ziPwFMSd5d
— Ryan McGeary (@RM_Geary) September 1, 2019
The night of Webb’s, a 22-year-old Rocklin product making his first home start in his third ever game, became a footnote. Webb was solid for a second time, throwing 5 2/3 innings while allowing just one run on seven hits, a walk and seven strikeouts.
He was not perfect, and the fourth was his only clean, 1-2-3 inning. But he showed off a fastball, changeup and slider that all drew swings-and-misses – perhaps most impressively on a fifth-inning at-bat from Manny Machado, who whiffed three times on the slider – and danced out of trouble each time but the last time, when a sixth-inning, Josh Naylor double put a runner on scoring position, and Manuel Margot lined a single to tie the game, 1-1.
That’s how it remained until the eighth, when Tony Watson entered and allowed a leadoff Triples Alley shot to Manny Machado, who slid into third safely. Two batters later, it was Naylor again with an RBI single. A cushion came in the top of the ninth, when Wil Myers hit a two-run homer off Will Smith.
The Giants (66-69), who had nine hits and left eight on base, couldn’t convert opportunities into runs. Every non-Webb starter had a hit, but only Joey Rickard (2-for-3) had more than one.
They were shut out after the second batter of the game, Austin Slater starting the scoring with his fifth homer of the year. Slater has emerged as a righty force against lefties, this time victimizing southpaw Joey Lucchesi.
If there were another bright spot on a very dark day, it was the defensive excellence of Dubon.
Getting his first big-league look at shortstop, the 25-year-old put on a show in the fourth, first retiring Margot on a slow hopper that took a tricky hop and required a quick throw – the transfer from glove to hand was like lightning. The next batter, Luis Urias, tried him again, hitting one up the middle that Dubon ranged to his left to seize and record the out.
Dubon will be around for a while. Will Moronta?
