© Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
Logan Webb threw another gem on Friday, but the Giants, who settled into Milwaukee against another one of baseball’s best in the Brewers, failed to do enough to make that effort — and a body-on-the-line grab from Mike Yastrzemski — worth something. It was a 2-1, walk-off loss to open the series in Milwaukee.
They can thank Brewers second baseman Rowdy Tellez for walking it off in the 10th after San Francisco used three-straight pinch-hitters in the top half of the inning to no avail. That’s an easy way to take the wind out of your own sails and Tellez wasted no time in ending it, slashing a ball down the left-field line.
Across from Webb was Corbin Burnes, who, as you may know, is pretty decent at this whole pitching thing. Milwaukee rode his seven innings of four-hit baseball through seven, then let their stellar bullpen carry them through the tenth, with shutout innings from Brad Boxberger in the eighth, Devin Williams in the ninth, and Brent Suter in the 10th.
Burnes was given 105 pitches and the seventh, while Webb got pulled after 91 and six innings.
They were startlingly similar performances, with either pitcher’s lone demerit a solo home run — Avisail Garcia in the second for Milwaukee and the just-returned Brandon Belt for the Giants in the sixth. Burnes allowed four hits to Webb’s three, striking out five to Webb’s nine.
Webb finished his evening having retired 11-straight batters; the move to the bullpen for Gabe Kapler worked out, but it does make you wonder whether they may have been better served allowing Webb to continue for one more.
He was bolstered by the play of the game from Mike Yastrzemski. The center fielder made an absolutely heroic catch on a ball which could’ve become a one-out triple, and was at minimum a guaranteed double.
Mike Yastrzemski put his body on the line for this one ?pic.twitter.com/UPyClq3zio
— KNBR (@KNBR) August 7, 2021
The Giants failed to capitalize on any situation with runners on base, with their sole run coming from a Brandon Belt solo shot. Belt made his return in Arizona with an RBI on Thursday and tallied another with this home run to right.
Brandon Brand ™ pic.twitter.com/vhMdANiEH5
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) August 7, 2021
San Francisco (69-41) has two more games in Milwaukee (66-44) before returning for a nine-game homestand.