SF Giants done in by home runs, old foes to start Dodgers rivalry on sour note

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants lost more games to the Dodgers in 2022 than any season since the teams moved west. They were outscored 99-51. If they hoped to fare better in 2023, that quest started Monday night, with Logan Webb on the mound.

But this season’s first installment of the Giants-Dodgers rivalry only brought more of the same.

Julio Urías mystified on the mound and Max Muncy mashed at the plate, as Giants were done in by their oldest nemeses in a 9-1 loss to the Dodgers.

Outdueling Webb for six innings, the Giants’ only damage off Urías came on a towering Wilmer Flores solo shot to left field. With one run on four hits over six innings, Urías actually increased his ERA against the Giants dating back to the start of last season to 1.00 over six starts.

With a three-run shot off Webb and a seventh-inning grand slam that sealed the loss, Muncy was responsible for seven of the Dodgers’ nine runs, managing to find a new career-high to set against a Giants team that he has victimized for six years now.

Muncy’s grand slam extended the Dodgers’ lead to 9-1, after he made it 4-0 with his first homer in the third. His third-inning homer was the second allowed by Webb, after Mookie Betts led off the game with a line-drive shot to left-center.

In three starts, Webb has now surrendered four home runs, more than a third of his total in 2023 (11). Just once in 32 starts last season did Webb allow multiple home runs, and dating back to the start of 2021, no pitcher had surrendered fewer at his home ballpark.

After serving up two more Monday, Webb has allowed multiple homers in two of his three starts this season. And he no longer holds the title of least homer prone at home, which now belongs to rotation-mate Alex Cobb (with eight, a number he will put on the line in Wednesday’s series finale).

Betts had Webb’s number prior to Monday night, taking a .435 career average (regular and postseason) into the game, but his résumé was missing something: a home run. He took care of that on Webb’s fifth pitch of the game, sending a 2-2 sinker that crossed the low, inside portion of the plate on a line-drive trajectory into the left-center field seats. Adding a single in the third, Betts finished the game 12-for-26 (.462) all-time against Webb, more hits off the Giants’ ace than any other player in the majors.