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Logan Webb outduels Framber Valdez in SF Giants 4-2 victory over Astros

While SF Giants ace Logan Webb needed 46 pitches through his first two innings of work, he ended up leading his team to a win over the Astros.
Marc Delucchi|
Logan Webb outduels Framber Valdez in SF Giants 4-2 victory over Astros
Logan Webb outduels Framber Valdez in SF Giants 4-2 victory over Astros

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The SF Giants ended their road trip with a 4-2 victory over the Houston Astros on Wednesday afternoon. In a battle between aces, Giants righty Logan Webb outdueled Astros southpaw Framber Valdez. The Giants improved to 13-17 on the season and now will return to Oracle Park hoping to build on a two-game winning streak.

Webb was forced to labor through the first two innings by some bad luck and defensive mishaps. First baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. let a ground ball roll between his legs ranging to his left. Left fielder Mitch Haniger was also unable to corral a blooper that was ruled a single. Still, Webb worked around the early traffic on the basepaths before settling into an excellent rhythm in the middle innings.

Valdez was equally, if not more, effective across his first five innings of work, but the Giants ended his shutout effort in the top of the sixth inning. Catcher Joey Bart singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a bunt by Wade. An RBI single by Austin Slater gave San Francisco a 1-0 lead before Haniger drove in Slater two batters later.

Astros manager Dusty Baker turned to the bullpen at the start of the seventh inning, turning to Phil Maton to try and keep the Giants from extending their 2-0 lead. While Maton struck out Wilmer Flores to start the inning, he hit outfielder Michael Conforto who came around to score on a booming double to left-center field by Bart. Bart entered the game with just three hits and a double in his last 20 at-bats but finished the day 2-for-3. The powerful catcher is still looking for his first home run of the season, though.

From the end of the third through the seventh inning, Webb did not allow a hit or walk to 13 straight batters, with the only baserunner coming on a throwing error by second baseman David Villar. With his pitch count under 100, Giants manager Gabe Kapler tried to get one more inning out of Webb in the bottom of the eighth.

Webb put himself in trouble with a lead-off walk to David Hensley before allowing a single to Martín Maldonado. With two runners on and nobody out, Webb induced a double play from former teammate Mauricio Dubón to nearly escape the jam. However, Webb hung a changeup in the middle of the plate to Alex Bregman, who blasted a two-run homer. That was his final pitch of the game, finishing 7.2 innings pitched with five strikeouts and two earned runs on five hits and two walks.

Lefty Scott Alexander finished off the eighth inning without any drama and Flores added an insurance run with a solo homer off Bryan Abreu in the top of the ninth. With a two-run lead, Giants closer Camilo Doval worked around a lead-off walk to close out the victory.

The SF Giants will now return home to San Francisco and have one day off before beginning a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday. Neither team has announced a projected starter for the game, but first pitch is scheduled for 10:15 PM Pacific.

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Marc Delucchi
MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).

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