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SF Giants fall to Cardinals 6-0 despite quality start from Logan Webb

The SF Giants fell short of sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday afternoon, losing despite a solid start from Logan Webb.
Marc Delucchi|
SF Giants fall to Cardinals 6-0 despite quality start from Logan Webb
SF Giants fall to Cardinals 6-0 despite quality start from Logan Webb

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San Francisco GiantsSt. Louis Cardinals

The SF Giants were unable to complete a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday afternoon, losing 6-0. Giants ace Logan Webb delivered a start that would have been good enough to win on most days, but the Giants lineup was unable to score a run. Following the loss, San Francisco is now 11-14 on the season.

Webb, who finalized a five-year, $90 million extension with the Giants two weeks ago (check out Pat Ellington's breakdown of how Webb's deal compares to other recent extensions), breezed through the first two innings. The Giants ace had been leaning on his slider over his changeup over his past three outings but switched things up on Thursday. He threw his changeup 36.7% of the time, nearly a season-high, while he used his slider on just 17.6% of his pitches, a season-low.

The righty found himself in some trouble for the first time during the top of the third inning. After allowing singles to Andrew Knizer and Lars Nootbaar, he walked Paul Goldschmidt to load the bases with two outs. Nolan Gorman, who entered play on Thursday with a .315/.400/.630 line against righties, worked a full count but struck out swinging on a masterful changeup on the inside corner.

The Rocklin, California native retired 11 straight hitters in the middle innings, but as his pitch count inched toward 100 in the seventh, the Cardinals lineup woke up. Right fielder Alec Burleson ended the 0-0 tie when he blasted a solo home run on a fastball above the zone. It was the sixth home run Webb has allowed in seven appearances this season.

Following Burleson's homer, Paul DeJong and Tyler O'Neill lined back-to-back singles before Tommy Edman beat out an infield hit to score another run. While Edman was originally called out, a Cardinals challenge overturned the call and led manager Gabe Kapler to remove Webb from the game. Webb finished his outing having allowed a pair of earned runs on seven hits and a walk with seven strikeouts across 6.2 innings pitched.

Cardinals righty Miles Mikolas did more than keep pace with Webb, and had his best outing of the season. Mikolas has been a consistent mid-rotation arm since returning to MLB in 2018 after a stint in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants. However, he allowed six home runs in his first five starts of the season and entered the game with a 7.36 ERA.

Mikolas, like Webb, took advantage of a larger strike zone from home plate umpire Chad Fairchild to consistently put Giants hitters in pitcher's counts. A soft-contact artist at his best, Mikolas still surrendered nine hard-hit balls over the course of his outing, but his defense made enough plays to keep San Francisco scoreless. Mikolas finished the day with six strikeouts across 6.1 shutout innings.

The Giants best rally against Mikolas came in the bottom of the fifth. Third baseman David Villar lined a single through the right side of the infield before a base hit by Brandon Crawford and a walk by LaMonte Wade Jr. loaded the bases with one out for Thairo Estrada. Estrada hit a weak dribbler out in front of the plate, and Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizer made an athletic play, ranging forward to field the grounder before diving back in front of home plate in time to tag Villar out.

Giants designated hitter Joc Pederson crushed the next pitch Mikolas threw 109.1 mph, but the ball was hit directly Burleson. He made the catch to retire the side.

John Brebbia replaced Webb in the seventh and escaped unscathed. He nearly finished a shutout eighth inning, but Crawford made a wide throw to first base trying to complete a double play that pulled Wilmer Flores off the bag. Forced to face another batter, Brebbia allowed an RBI double to pinch-hitter Dylan Carlson.

With a 3-0 deficit, Kapler pulled Brebbia in favor of rookie Tristan Beck (Giants #19 prospect). Beck, who is adjusting to pitching out of the bullpen in the majors, allowed a two-run homer to DeJong that broke the game open. Beck was hit hard during his 1.1 innings of work, allowing another run to score in the ninth. With a day off tomorrow and next Thursday, it would not be a huge surprise to see Beck optioned in the coming days, especially if outfielder Bryce Johnson is ready to be activated off the concussion IL.

Mike Yastrzemski doubled off Génesis Cabrera in the bottom of the eighth, helping him improve his already strong early season numbers. Yastrzemski had been scratched from the lineup on Wednesday. Kapler said during his pregame media availability that Yaz's oblique had tightened up. However, the outfielder picked up where he left off at the plate.

After going 5-3 during their homestand, the SF Giants will receive a rare Friday off tomorrow before traveling to Mexico City for a two-game series with San Diego Padres. Giants lefty Sean Manaea will start on Saturday while Alex Cobb is scheduled to take the mound Sunday.

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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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