San Francisco ace Logan Webb aims for his first victory since May 13 when the Giants close a three-game series against the visiting Colorado Rockies on Thursday afternoon.
The teams split the first two meetings. San Francisco’s 2-1 victory in 10 innings on Wednesday was its 13th in the past 15 meetings with the Rockies.
Webb (5-1, 3.82 ERA) has recorded four straight no-decisions after going 5-1 over his first seven starts.
However, the right-hander was not thrilled about manager Gabe Kapler’s short leash in his latest outing, when he was pulled after 4 2/3 innings against the Miami Marlins on Saturday.
The Giants took a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning before Webb allowed two runs, three hits and one walk. Kapler removed him when he was one out away from qualifying for a victory.
Reliever John Brebbia entered and allowed a two-run single, leaving four runs charged to Webb. The Giants eventually lost 5-4.
“I like to compete, I wanted to compete, and I wasn’t pitching well, so I get it,” Webb said of the quick hook. “But the competitor in me wasn’t too fond of that. Yeah, I just wanted to keep competing.”
Webb, 25, will look to end the victory drought against the Rockies. He is 4-1 with a 4.47 ERA in eight career appearances (seven starts) vs. Colorado. He received a no-decision against the Rockies on May 18 when he gave up three runs and four hits over seven innings in Denver.
The Colorado duo of Charlie Blackmon and Ryan McMahon are each 7-for-17 (.412) with a homer against Webb.
Blackmon is experiencing an interesting series. He was the hero on Tuesday in Colorado’s 5-3 victory and the goat in the team’s Wednesday setback.
Blackmon hit a go-ahead, pinch-hit, three-run homer on Tuesday. The blast also made him just the seventh player in Rockies history to reach the 200-homer mark.
The middle game of the series was going well for Blackmon until the bottom of the 10th inning, when his fielding miscue on Luis Gonzalez’s single to right allowed Donovan Walton to score the winning run from second. Walton stopped at third prior to the error.
“Charlie charged hard, as he should,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “He probably just peeked to see where (Walton) was.”
Blackmon racked up career hit No. 1,500 on Wednesday. Overall, he had two hits, drove in Colorado’s lone run and also threw out a runner at the plate.
Colorado’s Connor Joe went 2-for-4 to extend his streak of reaching base to 34 games, the second-longest active streak in the majors. The streak is the longest by a Rockies’ player since DJ LeMahieu reached in 38 straight games in 2016.
The Giants hope to have shortstop Brandon Crawford back in the starting lineup for the finale. Crawford exited the Tuesday game in the fifth inning due to right quadriceps tightness. He was scratched shortly before the first pitch on Wednesday before popping out as a pinch hitter in the 10th.
Rockies left-hander Austin Gomber (2-6, 6.54 ERA) will start Thursday. He was roughed up for a combined 17 runs and 17 hits in 6 1/3 innings over his past two outings.
Gomber gave up eight runs and seven hits in 1 1/3 innings in a loss to the Washington Nationals on May 28, then followed up by allowing nine runs and 10 hits over five innings against the Atlanta Braves on June 2.
The 28-year-old is 0-4 with a 9.85 ERA over his past five starts, a stretch that began with a loss against the Giants on May 9. He gave up five runs and five hits over 5 1/3 innings.
Gomber is 0-4 with a 10.90 ERA in four career starts vs. San Francisco. Wilmer Flores is 4-for-10 with a homer against him.
–Field Level Media