It’s not often you see a pitcher emerge from the dugout and jog out to the bullpen in the middle of the second inning. But only moments later, Sean Manaea was making it a roundtrip commute, and Logan Webb was hanging his head on the bench.
The Giants’ young ace was not even two weeks removed from twirling the top gem of his career, a complete-game shutout to lead the club into the All-Star break. But tasked Saturday with being the stopper of a losing streak, Webb’s night was over and San Francisco’s hopes were dashed one out into the second inning.
The Giants (54-45) lost their second straight to the last-place Nationals, 10-1. The skid reached four games. They will turn to an opener, Scott Alexander, in Sunday’s series finale, a must-win to avoid being swept in a three-game series for the first time this season.
Webb failed to complete five innings for the first time this season, allowing six runs that raised his ERA to 3.48 from 3.11.
In a second inning that seemed like it would never end, Webb exhausted 41 pitches while recording one out and allowing all six runs. The Nationals were relentless, fouling off nearly a third of his pitches in the inning. He was 29 pitches deep with one on and two in after three batters; it wasn’t until his 36th offering that he recorded his first out, getting Luis Garcia swinging on a changeup for his second strikeout of the night.
That would prove to be the last batter Webb retired.
Manaea began his trot to the bullpen, and the No. 9 hitter, Alex Call, ended any notion of escaping the inning with minimal damage, clearing the bases with a triple off the right field wall. C.J. Abrams blew it open and ended Webb’s outing with his second home run of the series.
After his expedited warm-up, Manaea got them out of the second and took down the next five innings, sparing the bullpen. Luke Jackson, activated from the injured list pregame, was the only pitcher used.
Webb, the MLB leader in innings pitched, had never in 97 career starts failed to make it out of the second inning. His previous shortest start was 2 ⅔ innings, all the way back in 2019. Since he ascended into the staff ace in the second half of 2021, Webb had gone at least five in 56 of a possible 62 starts, including all 20 this season before Saturday.
As the Giants assess their options at the trade deadline, they have gotten befuddling performances from the two starting pitchers they believe they can count on to lead them down the stretch. The aberration from Webb followed Alex Cobb’s second-worst start of the season, also failing to make it out of the fifth in a loss Saturday in Cincinnati.
“As a group of starters I don’t think we feel like we’ve done our best job,” Webb told reporters in Washington. “Hopefully we can string together a bunch of good starts right now. … It’s the ebbs and flows of the season. You just hope (the losses) don’t come in bunches like they are right now.”
While Farhan Zaidi has maintained that the Giants’ primary focus is shoring up their middle infield with Thairo Estrada and Brandon Crawford both out, MLB Network insider Jon Morosi reported Saturday that San Francisco had inquired with the Mets about Justin Verlander. Zaidi has said he is satisfied with the team’s rotation depth but didn’t rule out making a move for a frontline starter.
Perhaps both sides of the ball could use a boost.
Joc Pederson contributed a pair of doubles, including one in the third that set up a sac fly from J.D. Davis that scored their only run, but the Giants did little else offensively for the fourth straight game. Since the start of their losing streak, they have been outscored 23-7 while batting a paltry .165.
“The last couple of days haven’t been as good,” manager Gabe Kapler said of the Giants’ approach at the plate, speaking to reporters in Washington (via NBC Sports Bay Area). “There’s no quick fix here. It’s just a back to work mentality, grinding in every at-bat, looking for pitches to drive.”
Since the start of July, when Estrada went down, San Francisco has scored the second-fewest runs per game in the majors with the second-lowest OPS.
They have fallen four games back of the Dodgers, who have scored 27 runs in two wins over Bruce Bochy’s first-place Texas Rangers.
Against a Nationals team with the second-worst bullpen in the majors, the Giants allowed the opposing starter to pitch into the seventh inning for the second straight night.
Josiah Gray, a first-time All-Star this year, didn’t have it early. The crowd serenaded him with applause when he finally threw a strike, on his eighth pitch of the game. Before settling in to complete seven innings, Gray issued three walks over the first two frames. The Giants capitalized on none of them. They went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
J.D. Davis struck out and Michael Conforto grounded into a double play to end a promising first inning, while Luis Matos, Blake Sabol and Brett Wisely made three unproductive outs after Mike Yastrzemski began the second with a walk and stole second base. Pederson led off the sixth with his second double, but he was left stranded on second base.
“Especially with a day game tomorrow, it’s important that we turn the page quickly, wash off tonight – bad game for us – (but) not discount the fact that it’s been several games,” Kapler said. “To some degree or another, we haven’t been a very explosive, powerful offense for some time. But as a look at the names on that page, I know that we are that explosive, powerful offense.”
Notable
— RHP Luke Jackson (low back strain) was activated from the 15-day injured list, providing a boost to the Giants’ bullpen. RHP Mauricio Llovera was designated for assignment in a corresponding move. Llovera, 27, had a 3.74 ERA in 22 appearances the past two seasons but was out of options. Jackson, who held a 2.16 ERA in nine appearances since returning from Tommy John surgery, pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning.
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