Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
SAN FRANCISCO — Logan Webb had twirled his way through five scoreless innings before hitting a slight speed bump in the sixth, exiting a solid start slightly — and needlessly — disappointed. In his Oracle Park debut, his third major league start, a 22-year-old from Rocklin, who was pitching for Low-A Augusta on July 23, looked like both the Giants’ future and present.
Which made what was to follow so gut-wrenching for a starter who, when he stepped off the mound, should have been on top of the world.
“I felt shitty about it. Just really wish I got out of the inning,” Webb told KNBR on Saturday after the reliever who followed him, Reyes Moronta, collapsed to the ground on the third pitch he threw. “I guess it’s part of baseball, but obviously, it kind of went through my mind — I should have finished that inning. I’m hoping he’s all right. You never want to see that with anybody.”
Moronta has an acute right shoulder strain, Bruce Bochy announced after the Giants’ 4-1 loss to the Padres, with an MRI set for Sunday after a scary scene.
Reyes Moronta collapsed on the mound holding his pitching arm. pic.twitter.com/ziPwFMSd5d
— Ryan McGeary (@RM_Geary) September 1, 2019
For Webb, who struck out seven and allowed seven hits and a walk, the successes of the first five innings were drowned by the frustrations of the sixth. It started beautifully, a Manny Machado strikeout on three swinging strikes before an Eric Hosmer ground out. It quickly unraveled, Josh Naylor doubling before Webb threw three straight balls to Manuel Margot, whose single ended Webb’s shutout, snatched a potential win from his record and necessitated Moronta’s mid-inning appearance.
Of course, Moronta might have pitched an inning later and the same might have happened. That was not where Webb’s head went.
“I was excited going into the inning, got those two outs pretty quick. Gave up the double. Thought it was a decent pitch,” said Webb, who thought, before the struggles, he had a shot for seven innings. “Then all of a sudden, that three [balls] on him, kind of hung that one [to Margot]. Obviously, you’ve seen me before, I get pretty mad at myself. Just trying to give the relievers as many innings as I can. I think that’s big for me. I was a little ticked off about that. Overall I think I did all right. Just some things I wish I’d change.”
Webb was a fourth-round pick in 2014, Moronta with the organization since 2011. Webb said he’s known Moronta for “three or four years.”
A day that started with nerves, pitching in front of family and friends at this park for the first time, along the way earning another start in the rotation and a standing ovation when he left the mound, ended with soft words.
“That’s just tough seeing it,” Webb said.