It’s easy to forget how good pitching can help produce good hitting. The correlation isn’t always guaranteed, isn’t always direct or obvious, but every once and awhile those two different facets of the game sync for a team, and it becomes perfectly clear how much one needs, or feeds, off the other.
Defenders are also hitters. The Giants field eight two-way players who not only watch, but prepare, for every pitch thrown by the pitching staff. Every missed fastball and spiked slider in every prolonged at-bat in every drawn-out inning takes its toll over a long game or long series. There’s a trickle down effect to all that standing around — it’s not just the pitcher who struggles. It’s hard for the other players to stay vigilant, to stay sharp as the mind wanders and the body tires. Errors are made. Mistakes seem to compound. Outfielders and infielders are like the rest of us, they’re fans of baseball. They love to be involved, to see action. Good pitching gets them gassed up!
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Jung Hoo Lee said as much about Logan Webb’s performance before his run-saving, wall-colliding catch in the 8th inning.
Webb had recorded 23 Chicago hitters in the game so far and wanted a 24th. At the time, the Giants had a three-run lead — but the Cubs had just scored their first run on a throwing error by first baseman Casey Schmitt, and threatened with a runner on second base. Webb’s pitch count had eclipsed the century mark. Manager Tony Vitello went out to the mound to go get his starter and was turned back by his starter. Webb wanted to finish the inning, and even in the far reaches of right field with the afternoon sun in his eyes, Lee could see that.
His teammate’s determination to right the ship was evident from the first frame when he got Pete Crow-Armstrong to swing through a fastball on the sixth pitch of the first at-bat of the game, then turned-two on a comebacker after back-to-back singles.
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All game Webb attacked the zone, refused to give into hitters, buckled down with runners on base. He struck out 7 without walking a batter. The last time a Giants starter not named Logan Webb had thrown six complete innings and not walked a batter was Landen Roupp on May 19th, nearly a month ago. The last time a Giants starter not named Logan Webb had even pitched six complete innings (to be clear, a pretty unremarkable feat) was Trevor McDonald on May 27th against Arizona, nearly two-and-a-half weeks ago. Webb had done it twice, throwing 7 shutout frames on June 3rd against Milwaukee, and throwing 8 innings of 1 run ball on June 8th against Washington. Over his entire MLB career, Webb had never thrown 8 complete innings in consecutive starts — until today, thanks to Jung Hoo Lee.
Michael Busch lined a first-pitch 4-seamer towards the first archway in right. Lee booked it into the corner at the crack of the bat. One eye tracked the ball in flight, the other tried to ignore the disconcertedly solid brick wall that was fast-approaching. We all know the history there. Lee would’ve been forgiven if he pulled up short, not wanting to risk another shoulder injury, another season-ending collision with a stubborn vertical plane. Instead he risked it, secured the baseball, then got decked.
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Webb’s start didn’t need that 24th out to be vindicated — he had already gone above and beyond — but the fact that he insisted he stay on the hill, and Lee insisted on catching the baseball, wall be damned, is the kind of symbiosis this team has been lacking.
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Landen Roupp threw 105 laborious pitches and didn’t even make it through the 5th on Friday night. The offense responded with lackluster support, recording just 4 hits and 1 run. On Saturday, Trevor McDonald unraveled in the 4th, with three walks, one hit batter, and two wild pitches in a game in which the batting order managed just a single run again. The starters set a terrible tone. They sunk down into the muck and dragged the rest of the team with them.
But behind a vintage Webb, the bats responded in kind. They didn’t necessarily look fierce, just dynamic, with balls in play to go along with walks and stolen bases and sac bunts. They blooped and blasted and blooped again. In other words, they got on base, got aggressive, and good things happened.
San Francisco’s three-run 5th inning started with a single by Lee who took second on Daniel Susac’s bunt. The line-up had been hitless, 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position, over the weekend until Drew Gilbert’s bloop double to left.
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Then came the blast.
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Matt Chapman’s seventh homer of the year was his sixth in June. He’s racked up 20 RBIs in the first two weeks of the month. His slash line in 54 plate appearances: .415/ .519/ .902.
Chapman worked a lead-off walk in the 7th. Another sac bunt by Luis Arraez moved him to second to score on Bryce Eldridge’s RBI lob into left.
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In the 8th, Casey Schmitt stole second and was promptly knocked home by Susac single.
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The offense looked focused for the most part. There wasn’t much hemming and hawing, not much dilly-dallying. They played off script by manufacturing some opportunities. They didn’t swing too big, or try to do it too much at once. Small ball, you know. When a runner moved into scoring position, the next guy up punched him home. Webb held the Cubs hitless in 6 at-bats with a runner in scoring position, and the Giants went 4-for-7.
Sweep dodged!
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