SF Giants take game one of series against Cardinals, win 4-3

The SF Giants beat the Cardinals in St. Louis 4-3, overcoming two Logan Webb long balls. For a second straight Webb start, the Giants were able to dig deep and provide offense for their franchise ace.

The Giants looked like they planned to attack early, notching one hit and two walks in the first two innings, though those never materialized into runs. Webb, for his part, pitched two hitless innings, tallying two very impressive strikeouts.

After flirting with success, the attack began in earnest for the Giants offense in the third inning. They took advantage of Austin Slater's speed to beat out a throw from Cardinals' short Paul DeJong, a pitch hitting Thairo Estrada, and then a wild pitch advancing both runners into scoring position. JD Davis then hit a sacrifice grounder to drive in Slater and put the Giants at 1-0, and Mitch Haniger added to the lead with a double to score Estrada.

In the bottom of the third, Patrick Bailey threw a perfect line to Brandon Crawford to get Jordan Walker out stealing. But for the next few innings, despite hits from both teams, neither one was able to score and the game remained 2-0, Giants.

This throw by Patty 🤌 pic.twitter.com/FPt63dqgDT
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) June 13, 2023

Trouble struck for Webb in the fifth inning, when he allowed a home run to DeJong off a slider right down the middle of the plate, putting the score at 2-1, Giants. In the sixth, he allowed a single to Brendan Donovan, who set the stage for Paul Goldschmidt to come in and wreak havoc on the Giants, as he historically has. Goldschmidt delivered, hitting his 31st career home run off the Giants, and putting the Cardinals up 3-2. These homers, numbers 11 and 12 on the season, put him above his 2022 season total of 11 home runs.

But the Giants refused to let Logan Webb down without a fight. In the seventh, Wilmer Flores walked, Davis hit a single, and Haniger was up to the plate with two outs and delivered another RBI, tying the game at 3-3. In the eighth, Bailey doubled for his second hit of the game, and Crawford drove him home off a single to left field, putting the Giants up 4-3.

Tyler Rogers came in to relieve Webb in the bottom of the eighth, allowing two singles and notching two outs, before he was relieved by Camilo Doval. With two men on base, Doval allowed an uncharacteristic four-pitch walk to load the bases. But in three more pitches he got Dylan Carlson to fly out to center field to end the inning. In the bottom of the ninth, even with some very torturous baseball in a fluke bounce single, a walk, and a batter hit by pitch, Doval ended the game with a one pitch groundout to none other than Paul Goldschmidt.

Despite the two home runs, Webb's solid seven inning outing with three runs allowed off seven hits, plus the Giants' offensive tenacity, put them in position to take game one of the series. Doval's continued composure under pressure, and Haniger's big RBIs take honorable mentions. The series continues tomorrow at 4:45 PM Pacific.