SF Giants’ Webb an up-and-coming star, La Stella, Longoria homer to clinch series win
SAN FRANCISCO — It’s far too soon to mention Logan Webb in the same breath as the greatest Giants homegrown pitching stars, but for a franchise that’s spent the last decade trying to draft and develop the team’s next ace, Webb sure is giving everyone a lot to dream about.
With 7 1/3 strong innings against the Mets on Tuesday, Webb continued to establish himself as an up-and-coming star as he led the Giants to a 3-2 series-clinching win.
It will take years of sustained excellence for Webb to begin drawing comparisons to Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner, but the Giants’ 2014 fourth round draft pick has performed so well this summer that it’s increasingly easy for president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler to envision Webb pitching at the front of the rotation well into the future.
Webb’s 7 1/3 innings set a career-high and he likely would have had a chance to finish Tuesday’s game had Mets first baseman Pete Alonso not ruined an otherwise spectacular performance with a two-run home run to pull New York within a run in the top of the eighth.
“I just felt like I was getting even more into a groove toward the end and a couple of pitches later and I’m out of the game,” Webb said. “That kind of stunk, but I was more mad just because of the pitch I threw.”
Fortunately for the 24-year-old Giants starter, a first-inning home run from Tommy La Stella and a seventh-inning solo shot from Evan Longoria gave Webb enough cushion to secure his seventh win of the season and help San Francisco to its 10th win in Webb’s last 11 starts.
“I don’t think there’s any denying that he’s been among the league’s best starters, not just ours, over the last calendar month,” Kapler said. “Since he’s come off the IL, he’s gotten better and better and today was his most efficient outing to date.”
Left-hander Tony Watson finished off the eighth inning behind Webb before Jarlín García started the ninth inning for a Giants club that wanted to avoid using top high-leverage arms Tyler Rogers and Jake McGee after each pitcher worked back-to-back days.
García allowed a leadoff single to Jeff McNeil that was misplayed by center fielder Austin Slater, but left fielder LaMonte Wade Jr. raced into the gap to back up Slater, cut the ball off and prevent McNeil from taking second base. After inducing a pair of groundouts, García was replaced by right-hander Dominic Leone who retired former Giant Kevin Pillar to pick up his first save this season and third of his career.
Wade opened the bottom of the first inning with a line drive single to center field that snuck past the outstretched glove of shortstop Jonathan Villar. Had either of the Mets’ top two defensive infielders, Francisco Lindor or Javier Báez, been active and in the lineup on Tuesday, it’s possible the ball would have ended up in a glove, but instead Wade reached to set the table for La Stella.
After falling behind in the count 0-2 against Mets starter Marcus Stroman, La Stella laid off a pair of splitters, fouled off a cutter and then launched a 2-2 cutter thrown right over the heart of the plate out to deep right center field. The Giants’ second baseman isn’t known for his power, but his 415-foot blast easily cleared the outfield wall and gave San Francisco an early 2-0 lead against one of the best starters in the National League.
“(Stroman) was really excellent,” Kapler said. “La Stella’s at-bats have just been so good. It seemed like we were getting better at-bats off of Stroman early in the game and as the game wore on, he found a rhythm and was really keeping us off balance and mixing his pitches well.”
La Stella’s home run may have suggested the Giants’ offense was ready to make another starting pitcher labor through an exhausting outing, but Stroman had other plans.
The Mets right-hander dazzled against the Giants, striking out nine hitters over his first six innings as he managed to get Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and several other top San Francisco off balance. Despite not throwing more than 98 pitches in any of his previous 24 starts this season, Stroman came back to the mound for the bottom of the seventh and was greeted by Longoria, who drilled the first pitch he saw into the left field bleachers.
Longoria became the ninth Giants player to reach 10 home runs this year, which matches the 1952, 1958, 1987 and 2000 teams for the most players to hit double digit homers in a single season.
