Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
LOS ANGELES — Logan Webb had not pitched in a Dodger Stadium that had fans. He got a taste of the venue itself last year, but it was empty. He fought Dodgers batters in his debut season of 2019, but never in Southern California.
Dodgers fans did not wait for him to take the mound to introduce themselves.
“It was fun. They were kind of heckling me down in the bullpen before the game,” Webb said after Saturday afternoon’s 11-6 win in Los Angeles. “Honestly, it brought a little extra adrenaline, a little extra, like, ‘Hey, let’s go.’ Kind of fired me up a little bit.”
Any acceptable heckles to share?
“No. They’re kind of ruthless down there, to be honest,” said the Rocklin native. “There was a group of guys that were kind of doing it the most. But it’s all fun.”
It is a lot more fun when Webb’s pitching does not invite more jabs.
The 24-year-old was excellent through five innings in his first start back from a shoulder strain, holding the potent Dodgers lineup that welcomed back Cody Bellinger to just one hit and one earned run.
His toughest critic during a recent run of solid starts might be Gabe Kapler, who always has asked for more and said there is a better version of the righty, whose ERA was 3.14 in his past five starts.
“It was one of the better performances I’ve seen from him,” the manager said after the Giants’ bullpen had hiccups (Scott Kazmir, Jose Alvarez) but didn’t mind because their bats were loud. “It was exactly what we look for. It was a lot of strikes. … He really executed in the zone and just below it.”
The recipe for a successful Webb has changed a bit. There were a lot of early-count changeups — the pitch that looked to be his putaway offering throughout the spring — and a lot of two-strike sliders, and he had a good one going.
Of his seven strikeouts, all were swinging, and six came from the slider. The Dodgers swung at 13 of his sliders, and two were put in play: a Justin Turner flyout and an Albert Pujols soft line-out. The other 11 swings were whiffs.
“I think that’s the best I felt throwing my slider for sure,” said Webb, whose exception was his first, which hit Gavin Lux in the foot. “… I just got a little excited, the first hitter in the game, but other than that, felt pretty good.”
Kapler has called out his big misses that turn pitches with plenty of movement into noncompetitive ones. The number of those is shrinking.
The only hit he surrendered was an RBI double to Justin Turner; the second run he allowed was an unearned as can be. Donovan Solano bobbled and then unfortunately evaded consecutive ground balls that put runners on the corners, and a safety squeeze gifted the Dodgers a run.
It was the type of situation that Webb found himself in often last year, when the defense behind him let him down. He crumpled at moments. But the Giants had a meeting at the mound, talked and Webb did not give up a hit the rest of the way.
He exited a game the Giants were leading, 7-2, at that point. There were few insults to throw at him.
Julio Urias flirted with a no-hitter in his last start, also against the Giants, in which he struck out 10 and allowed two runs in six innings.
“I think they wanted a little revenge from last time they faced Urias,” was Webb’s analysis.
The Giants tagged the southpaw for a career-worst seven runs (six earned) in five innings. They knocked 11 hits off of him and finished with a season-high-tying 16.
“Today we were really aggressive with pitches in the zone,” said Wilmer Flores, who returned with a 3-for-3 day. “With good pitchers, you can’t just let them throw that first strike to you, so we attacked and it paid off.”
And ignored the rest. Urias walks few hitters — his two Saturday tied a season high — and so the Giants knew they were going to get pitches to hit. Flores only saw seven pitches, but he crushed three of them for hard-hit singles.
“The hitters were certainly disciplined,” Kapler said. “…Thought Urias gave us a few more balls to hit, and our guys jumped on them.”
Solano made up for his errors with a home run, but his consecutive misplays could have been costly.
“The first one, the ball kind of took out a funny bounce on me,” Solano said through translator Erwin Higueros. “And on the second one, I was still thinking about the first error.”