SF Giants blast three home runs, Brandon Crawford leads the way on defense in win over Nationals

Giants right-hander Logan Webb returned from the injured list and tossed three scoreless innings against the Nationals.

SAN FRANCISCO — In the first two decades of home games the Giants played at China Basin, the waterfront ballpark gained quite a reputation.

The downtown digs quickly became a pitcher’s paradise and a palace fit only for the all-time home run king. In other words, hitters hated it here.

A Giants franchise that witnessed Barry Bonds pepper McCovey Cove and won three World Series in a five-year stretch gained a home field advantage by figuring out how to win at home, but so has Gabe Kapler’s 2021 club. They’re just doing it in a different way.

With a balanced offensive approach and three more home runs at Oracle Park, the Giants defeated the Nationals 5-3 and remained ahead of the Dodgers in the National League West.

Thanks to solo homers from catcher Curt Casali, first baseman Darin Ruf and third baseman Wilmer Flores, the Giants have now hit 53 in 41 home games this season and regained the major league lead with 130 team home runs this season.

“It’s a total team effort,” Ruf said. “I think it starts with our pitching and our defense, it takes a lot of pressure off to not try to do more than you’re capable of and then it’s about having quality at-bats. The quality at-bats that a lot of us are having end in positive results and that really helps.”

The only player on pace to hit more than 25 homers, Brandon Crawford, went 1-for-4 at the plate, but helped turn a pair of sensational double play that aided the Giants bullpen. With the Giants up 4-3 in the sixth, Crawford gave right-hander Zack Littell a lift by diving up the middle to snag a sharp grounder from Nationals catcher Tres Barrera before starting a 6-4-3 double play with a beautiful glove flip to second baseman Donovan Solano.

“I just told (Crawford) I thought that was probably one of the best defensive games I’ve ever seen,” Casali said. “That double play was as good of a web gem as I’ve seen. To be able to flip it from your glove on the forehand side is significantly harder than doing it from a backhand position.”

The full-extension dive and quarter-roll-to-flip should land on the career highlights video for a three-time Gold Glove Award winner, but it wasn’t the only jaw-dropping defensive play he made on Friday.

With the bases loaded and one out in the eighth, Crawford took a flip from Solano while racing across the diamond before tapping his toe on second base and firing a perfect strike to Ruf at first to retire Nationals outfielder Gerardo Parra by half a step.

Parra was much closer to being safe in the eighth than he was when he challenged Crawford’s arm in the seventh, too. After right-hander Dominic Leone walked Parra to lead off the frame, the former Giant attempted to race from third to home on a Trea Turner groundball and was out by five feet at the plate as Crawford delivered an on-target throw to Casali.

“I think I can confidently say tonight that defense won the game for us,” Kapler said.

The Giants catcher made a pair of tags to retire Parra at home and also finished with three hits in place of Buster Posey, who landed on the 10-day injured list on Friday with a bone bruise in his left thumb.

An hour after Farhan Zaidi met with reporters in the dugout and explained that having enough starting pitching depth is his greatest concern moving forward, right-hander Logan Webb returned from the injured list and made his first start for the club in more than five weeks.

“I’ve been itching to get back for awhile now and when they called me and were like, ‘How do you feel about throwing on Friday?'” Webb said. “I was like, heck yeah, I’ve been waiting for this for awhile.”

Webb was initially slated to make a three-inning, 45-pitch rehab appearance for Triple-A Sacramento on Tuesday, but the Giants cut his rehab assignment short when the club placed lefty Sammy Long on the injured list with a lower back strain. Despite only being built up to take down a few innings, Webb returned Friday and held the Nationals to one hit over three impressive innings.

“Trea Turner was like, ‘Why’d you guys take that guy out,'” Casali said. “It was really nice to see. We’ve been waiting awhile to get Webby back and I thought he did great, he looked great in the bullpen, he stayed within himself and he put us in a great position to win the game.”

Webb struck out four Washington hitters and induced seven whiffs including one on a masterful 94-mile per hour sinker that darted from the inside corner of the plate to the outside corner against Nationals slugger Juan Soto.

“That’s probably the best sinker I’ve ever thrown,” Webb said.

Kapler used seven different relievers behind Webb, and it was the first man up behind the Giants starter who allowed the Nationals to claw back into the game. Veteran lefty José Álvarez has enjoyed a strong season for San Francisco, but gave up three runs while only recording one out before leaving Friday’s game frustrated with home plate umpire David Rackley’s strike zone.

After Kapler pulled Álvarez, the southpaw was ejected from the game as he loudly expressed his frustration with Rackley on his way off the mound.

Logan Webb, Sick 94mph Two Seamer. pic.twitter.com/H7mW5gQAZp

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 10, 2021