To author their 29th comeback win of the year, the Giants overcame a sluggish offensive start and enjoyed a classic performance from their ace.
The Giants went hitless for the first four innings against a pitcher who’d never faced a Major League lineup before, but erased an early two-run deficit anyway.
Logan Webb, in his 100th career start, reclaimed his post atop the innings pitched leaderboard by recording seven strong frames. After so many bullpen games, piggybacking and featured arms, the Giants played by the book — their starter pitched deep and handed off a lead to the setup man Tyler Rogers and closer Camilo Doval.
“Really well-played game,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said postgame. “And then came up with a few big hits tonight, which was nice. We needed it.”
In their 4-2 victory, the Giants (60-49) out-hit Arizona 10-5. No balls left Oracle Park, but veterans Brandon Crawford, J.D. Davis, LaMonte Wade Jr. and Wilmer Flores each had big hits. Flores in particularly continued to star, extending his on-base streak to 15 by going 3-for-4.
“I think it’s hard to argue that he hasn’t been our best all-around hitter this season,” Kapler said of Flores.
A promising offensive performance didn’t look likely at first. Pitchers making their debuts, or pitchers the Giants are otherwise unfamiliar with, have sometimes befuddled San Francisco this year.
Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan, in his MLB debut, no-hit the Giants for six innings. Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt, in his third career stat, gave up one run in five innings. Joey Lucchesi, in his first MLB outing since 2021, shut the Giants out for seven innings.
It looked like rookie Slade Cecconi was going to continue that trend. The right-hander allowed just two base runners through four innings. In that time, Arizona went up 2-0 with an impressive first-inning rally against Webb
The Diamondbacks’ exit velocities in their two-run first inning included 107.3, 103.1 and 102.2 mph. Rarely does Webb get barreled so consistently.
Then the Giants finally figured Cecconi out in the fifth inning. J.D. Davis led off the inning with a single, and Brandon Crawford drove him in by legging out a triple to right-center. The 36-year-old had homered the night before and made a spectacular diving stop earlier in the game, displaying that he — at least at the moment — feels healthy.
“That’s an old guy doing young guy things,” Webb joked postgame.
After Crawford became the all-time leader in triples at Oracle Park, Isan Diaz cracked his first hit as a Giant to tie the game.
The Giants loaded the bases with no outs the next inning, but only came away with two runs as Davis scorched a 109.6-mph double to left field. Crooked innings have been scarce for San Francisco, the club that ranked last in nearly every offensive category in the month of July. The last time they scored more than three runs in a regulation inning was June 23.
The Giants’ offense hardly broke out of its funk from a run-scoring standpoint. But Webb silenced Arizona’s lineup to solidify their production.
Webb gave up just one hit after the scary first inning, making a dangerous Diamondbacks lineup look meek. Webb struck out five and induced 12 groundouts — often tappers to second base — to put up zeroes. His 148.2 innings pace the sport.
Along with Crawford’s diving stab, Diaz and Pederson also made solid plays in the field.
“Kai (Correa) was actually super excited, because I don’t think I gave up a ground-ball base hit,” Webb said. “That has to be a first for me.”
Play stopped briefly when a fan ran onto the field and tried to mount the visitor’s bullpen, but that was the extent of the excitement for the remainder of the game as Rogers and Doval — for his 32nd save — worked quiet innings to end it.
For the Giants, not all wins need to end in walk-offs or thrilling back-picks. A traditional, just-the-way-you-draw-it-up win must’ve been welcome.
