Logan Webb looks like an ace again for SF Giants

SAN FRANCISCO – Logan Webb, his right arm wrapped and iced up after another dominant start, confirmed what Tony Vitello had divulged a few minutes prior.

The ace could have pitched the ninth inning, but the team saw that his pitch count was at 99, and decided to roll Keaton Winn to close out Monday night's game against the Washington Nationals.

It proved to be the wrong decision, with the reliever being shelled for three runs in his third appearance in as many days. The Giants lost 4-3, but it could not overshadow the larger takeaway from a rainy affair.

Webb is back to being the Cy Young-caliber workhorse the Giants need him to be if they are to turn around their floundering season.

Webb went eight innings and struck out seven, allowing just one earned run against the Nationals. That followed up a seven-inning, one-hit gem in Milwaukee, where he threw 95 pitches and allowed just one walk while striking out four.

The right knee issues that plagued him in the early months of the season are now a thing of the past, Webb told reporters after his latest strong start.

"It's been back to normal for the last two (starts)," the 29-year-old right-hander said.

Even before going on the injured list, Webb had struggled with a 4.30 ERA in March and April, and then gone 0-1 with a 7.56 ERA in three May starts.

But since the calendar flipped to June, Webb has morphed back into the workhorse who has led the National League in innings pitched for three consecutive seasons, finishing in the top six in Cy Young voting eachof those years.

"You're never going to feel 100%, but I was trying to push through some things, and I felt like I was kind of hurting the team," Webb said. "I feel a lot better now, so I'm just happy I can contribute."

Against the Nationals, his elite sinker was a mystery to Washington's hitters. His fastball, which sits at 92 miles per hour on average, topped out at 93 on Monday.

But it was his changeup that he threw most often, going to it 32 times and inducing six whiffs, the most of any of his five pitches.

But instead of having Webb finish what would have been the fourth complete game of his career, and first since 2024, Vitello made the call to Winn in from the bullpen. Winn gave up a double to CJ Abrams to tie the game, then scored on a single by Daylen Lile to give Washington the lead and, eventually, the win.

"It was an outstanding outing by Webby and I made the decision to let him go back out in the top of the eighth and looked really good," Vitello said. "But obviously with them getting back to the top of the order, and where he was in the pitch count, and there being a little bit of a long delay in the inning, I decided to go with a guy who has been late in the game for us."

The Giants are now just 40-72 in Webb’s starts since the beginning of 2022, despite his 3.29 ERA.

Webb (3-4) will likely get his next start on Sunday afternoon in the home finale against the Cubs in a nationally televised game on ABC.

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