SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS NOTES:
TODAY’S GAME: SF kicks off its final road trip of the season tonight with game one of this four-game set against the Rockies. Today’s game starts a stretch where SF will exclusively face NL West opponents until the end of the season (also: Arizona, Los Angeles 2x, San Diego). The Giants finished their most recent homestand 5-1…SF’s offense recorded at least 11 hits in five of the six games and slashed .316/.392/.533 (.925 OPS) while averaging 6.0 runs/ game over the six-game span. SF has also won consecutive series for the first time since winning three straight series from July 25-August 3, all of which came at home (Oakland, Boston & Arizona).
WHERE WE STAND: SF’s recent success has brought the club back into the thick of the Wild Card race…they stand just 0.5 game out of the third Wild Card spot currently held by Arizona and Cincinnati at 76-71. Tied with SF is Miami (75-71), also 0.5 games back of the Diamondbacks. Entering today, FanGraphs gave SF a 39.1% chance of making the postseason, a large improvement from the 21.3% mark entering the homestand last week.
SOLID AS A ROCK: The Giants have won eight of their nine matchups against the Rockies this year and 16 of their last 17 dating back to last August. Since the start of the 2021 season, SF is 37-10 (.787) with a +120 run differential against Colorado. According to Stats, LLC, the Giants’ eight sweeps of the Rockies since 2021 are the most by a team against any opponent. SF has swept the Rockies twice this season, once here at Coors (June 6-8) and last weekend at Oracle Park…the only team to sweep an opponent three times this year is the Marlins, who have done so against the Nationals (Stats, LLC).
OUR HAPPY PLACE: A handful of Giants have found a lot of success here at Coors Field throughout their careers. IF Wilmer Flores, who’s celebrating 10 years of Major
League service today, has a .437 career OBP here at Coors Field…the mark is the second-highest among active players trailing only Starling Marte (.460)…Flores’ .365 average here is tied for third-best. IF Brandon Crawford has played 98 career games here at Coors, his most at any visiting ballpark…Crawford has collected 77 RBI here, his most at any other ballpark by a wide margin (Chase Field is second at 38). Crawford’s 77 RBI at Coors are tied for second-most by any visiting player…Adrián González is first with 88.
GUAC IS EXTRA: SF’s walkoff win yesterday w as their second in their last three games and eighth this season. The victory pushed the Giants to an 11-3 (.786) record in extra innings…the .786 winning % in extra innings is best in the Majors this season ahead of New York-NL and Atlanta (both 7-2, .778). SF’s 11 extra innings wins are tied for second-most in MLB with Cleveland…only Minnesota has more (12).
IT’S GETTING LATE: IF/OF LaMonte Wade Jr. played in his 350th career game yesterday and delivered the game-winning RBI in the 10th…it was Wade’s second time ecording a walkoff RBI this series after also driving the winning run in the 10th inning on Monday. Wade became the first Giants player to have two extra-inning walkoff RBI in the same series since Barry Bonds did so vs. Atlanta on August 19 & 21, 2003 (both homers) (Stats, LLC). His go-ahead RBI in the 9th inning or later was the 11th of his career… in the last 50 years, only Héctor Sánchez has had more such RBI within their first 350 games.
…FASHIONABLY LATE: Wade has a .688 career batting average (11-for-16) in the 9th inning or later with the potential go-ahead run on base…according to Stats, LLC, that’s over 150 points higher than any other MLB player in those situations in the last 50 years (min. 20 PA). The second-highest mark also belongs to a current Giant, IF J.D. Davis at .533 (8-for-15).
YAZ MAN: SF’s offense has vastly improved since welcoming OF Mike Yastrzemski back from the IL on August 30…the outfielder, who’s hitting .389 with a 1.266 OPS in 13 games since returning, has played particularly well over his last seven games, going 11-for-21 (.524) with a .583 OBP. Here at Coors Field, Yaz is slashing .312/.397/.679 with 10 homers and 32 RBI over 30 career games. His .679 SLG at Coors Field is third-best among active players, trailing only Jake Cronenworth (1.124)…his 1.076 OPS is third-best.
A FRIENDLY FACE: RHP Logan Webb gets the nod for SF today and is slated to face Colorado for a second consecutive time… the right-hander reached double-digit victories for a third straight season on Saturday after throwing 6.0-scoreless innings in SF’s 9-1 win against the Rockies. Webb enters today with the longest active scoreless streak against the Rockies (15.0ip) that started in his 9-inning shutout on July 9. The only pitcher ever to have three consecutive starts of 6.0+
scoreless innings vs. the Rockies is Johan Santana (2009-12).
TODAY’S STARTER – LOGAN WEBB RHP #62
2023 RECORD: 10-12, 3.40 ERA
WITH THE GIANTS: Webb is in the midst of his fifth season with SF… he signed a five-year, $90 million extension on April 14 that keeps him in a Giants uniform through 2028…the contract bought out his final two arbitration years and first three years of free agency. LAST OUTING: Webb returned to the win column last Saturday vs. Colorado in the Giants 9-1 win at Oracle Park…he spun 6.0 innings of three-hit, shutout ball while striking out four to reach double-digit victories for the third straight season.
ON THE LEADERBOARDS: Webb enters today with 193.0 innings pitched, most in the Majors just ahead of Arizona’s Zac Gallen (192.2 innings)…his 4.1 fWAR is 10th-best among all MLB pitchers…Webb’s 3.40 ERA is sixth-best in the NL while his 1.08 WHIP is third-best in the senior circuit.
THE QUEST FOR 200: The 26-year-old enters today’s start seven innings shy of 200 for the season…Webb’s 193.0 innings this year are a career-best, narrowly edging his 192.1 innings he threw a season ago…the last Giants pitcher to reach the 200 inning threshold was Madison Bumgarner, who worked 207.2 innings in 2019… the last Giants righty to do it was Jeff Samardzija, who threw an NL-best 207.2 innings in 2017.
200…PART DEUX!: He’s also within reach of the 200-strikeout mark for the first time in his career, entering today’s outing with a career-best 177 punchouts (surpassing his prior career-best 163 strikeouts from last season)…Webb’s 8.3 K/9ip is the second-best of his career in a full season behind a 9.6 mark in 2021.
QUALITY EATS: Webb’s 21 quality starts are most in the National League, and second in MLB behind NYY’s Gerrit Cole (21)…if he finishes the year leading the league in quality starts he’d be the first Giant to do so since Rick Reuschel had 28 in 1988 (Stats, LLC).
VS. COLORADO: Webb will make his second consecutive start against Colorado and his fourth overall this season versus the Rockies…he’s 2-0 with a 1.77 ERA (4er, 20.1ip) in his prior three starts vs. Colorado this year with 17 strikeouts to just three walks issued…in his lone start vs. the Rockies here at Coors Field Webb allowed four runs on eight hits in 5.1 innings in an eventual 5-4 Giants win…tonight’s start will be Webb’s eighth career here in Denver where he’s gone 3-1 with a 4.89 ERA (21er, 38.2ip) in the prior seven.
ZIP, ZILCH, NADA: The righty enters this start having pitched 15.0 consecutive scoreless innings vs. the Rockies over his last two starts against them (both at Oracle Park)…he twirled his first career shutout on July 9 leading into the All-Star break before his 6.0 scoreless innings against them last time out…according to Stats, LLC, the only other pitcher ever to have three consecutive starts of 6.0+ scoreless innings against the Rockies is Johan Santana from 2009-12.
HELPING HAND: The Giants as a team are 53-35 (.602) in Webb’s 88 starts since 2021…SF is 14-16 in his 30 starts this year and has given him two or fewer runs of support in 19 of those 30 starts… Webb is 9-1 this season when receiving at least three runs of support…Webb received nine runs of support last time out, the most of any of his 30 starts this season…even with that, Webb’s 3.36 run support average is still worst in the Majors this season.
NO WALK ZONE: Webb’s 3.8% walk rate is the lowest of his career (best: 6.0% in 2021)…Webb’s career walk rate is 5.9%… the 3.8% walk rate is the lowest in the NL among qualified pitchers…Webb is third overall in MLB behind SEA’s George Kirby (2.4%) and TB’s Zach Eflin (3.6%)…he’s walked only 29 of the 762 batters he’s faced in 2023…the Rockies have a 7.4% walk rate on offense, which is 26th in MLB.
STAYING GROUNDED: Webb’s 61.7% ground-ball rate leads the Majors, and is up from last year’s 57.8% mark and above his career average of 58.9%.
THE HOMERS: He’s allowed 20 homers this year in 193.0 innings, nine more than he allowed last season in 192.1 innings (11)…his 2.6 HR% would be the second-highest of his career behind his 2.9 HR% from his rookie year (2019).
COLORADO ROCKIES NOTES:
DOWN THE STRETCH
- The Colorado Rockies continue their penultimate homestand of the season with the first game of a four-game set against the San Francisco Giants. The Rockies began the homestand with a series win over the Chicago Cubs, their first series win since taking two of three from the Chicago White Sox Aug. 18-19. A win today would give Colorado their first three-game winning streak since June 11-13. Since Aug. 7, 31 of the Rockies 34 games have come against teams with winning records … 14 of the 17 games remaining on the schedule are also against teams at or above .500, with the lone games against a non-winning team coming against San Diego Sept. 18-20.
ONE GIANT LEAP
- The Rockies have gone 1-8 against the Giants this season, with their lone win coming at San Francisco on July 7 … have lost five in a row to San Francisco, including a three-game sweep in San Francisco last Friday-Sunday. Colorado has gone 1-16 against the Giants dating back to Aug. 21, 2022, including an eight-game active losing streak at Coors Field. … the Rockies’ loss on Aug. 21 was in the third game of a three-game series at Coors Field, the last time Colorado won a series against the Giants. Colorado has yet to win a series this season against an NL West club, having gone 9-32 against their division rivals … the Rockies’ .220 winning percentage against the West is the worst in franchise history.
THE FULL MONTY
- Elehuris Montero has reached base in a career-best 21 games since Aug. 14, tied for the second-longest active streak in the Majors, the longest active streak in the NL … it’s the longest streak by a Rockies player under the age of 26 since Nolan Arenado reached base in 30-straight games April 9-May 10, 2014. Montero has slashed .382/.463/.632 over this stretch with six doubles, one triple, three home runs and 12 RBI … his OBP ranks second in the NL over this span, while his 1.095 OPS over this span ranks seventh.
A GOOD START
- Hunter Goodman has hit safely in 10 of his first 15 career games and has joined Trevor Story (2016) as the only players in franchise history to have at least 13 hits and 13 RBI through his first 15 career games.
PLENTY IN THE TANK
- Charlie Blackmon has reached base in 24 of his 25 games since he was reinstated from the injured list on Aug. 14, slashing .300/.413/.444 over that span … has walked 15 times with 13 strikeouts since Aug. 14, ranking seventh in the NL in OBP over this stretch.
STRONG ARMED
- Rookie outfielders Nolan Jones (98.8 MPH) and Brenton Doyle (96.6 MPH) rank first and fifth, respectively, among all Major Leaguers in average arm strength … the pair own four of the top five fastest outfield assists in the Majors, with Doyle owning four of the top 10 … they are the only players in the Majors with multiple outfield assists over 100 MPH … per Sarah Langs, the Rockies four outfield assists of 100+ MPH are the most by any team in the Statcast Era, ahead of the 2015 Rays who had three. Jones’ 15 outfield assists are the second-most in the Majors and the third-most outfield assists in franchise history, despite only 73 starts in the outfield … Doyle’s 10 outfield assists are tied for the eighth-most in the Majors … they are just the fifth pair of rookie teammates in the expansion era to have 10 or more outfield assists in the same season, the first since Marty Cordova (12) and Rich Becker (12) of the 1995 Minnesota Twins. Jones’ 15th assist on Monday was measured at 102.7 MPH, the fastest by a Rockie in the Statcast Era (since 2015), and fastest in the Majors since Jackie Bradley Jr.’s 103.4 MPH assist on June 19, 2018 … on Sept. 2, Brenton Doyle recorded the fastest-tracked outfield throw in the Statcast Era, a 105.7 MPH throw to hold a runner at third.
GOLDEN GLOW
- Ryan McMahon’s 17 defensive runs saved are the sixth-most in the Majors and are the second-most among all third basemen. Center fielder Brenton Doyle’s 19.4 UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating), which factors in arm strength, range and errors, is the best in baseball, leading second-place Fernado Tatis Jr. with a 12.3 UZR (FanGraphs)
… the Braves’ Michael Harris II is the nearest center fielder with a 5.5 UZR. Ezequiel Tovar’s 10 DRS are tied for the fifth-most among Major League shortstops, tied for third in the NL … his .987 fielding percentage is tied with Troy Tulowitzki (2007) for the best fielding percentage by a rookie shortstop in Major League history … highest since Pete Kozma in 2013 (.984).
ROCKIES STARTING PITCHER CHASE ANDERSON RHP
MR. ANDERSON
- Chase Anderson will make his third start today after being reinstated from the 15-day injured list on Sept. 3 … placed on the IL July 28 with right shoulder inflammation. Joined the Rockies after being claimed off waivers from Tampa Bay on May 12 … designated for assignment by Tampa Bay on May 10 after being acquired via trade with Cincinnati in exchange for cash considerations on May 3. Was signed by the Reds to a Minor League contract on Feb. 20 after spending the 2022 season with the club.
GIGANTES…AGAIN
- Has made 12 career starts against San Francisco … has earned a 3-4 record with a 5.43 ERA (58 IP, 35 ER) in those contests … produced three quality starts … has not allowed more than three runs in seven of his last eight starts vs. San Francisco, working a 4.24 ERA (40.1 IP, 19 ER). Last threw against the Giants on Saturday at Oracle Park … got tagged for six runs on six hits in 3.1 innings of work … allowed one home run while walking two and striking out three … recieved the loss in the 9-1 defeat.
SKID
- Lost four consecutive starts June 28-July 5 after earning a no-decision in each of his first six starts … allowed 27 total runs across 13.1 innings (18.23 ERA) through the four-game skid with 30 hits, including eight home runs, with nine walks, two hit batters and 12 strikeouts. His 18.23 ERA was the fifth-highest ERA over a four-start span by a Rockies starter in franchise history, the highest since Antonio Senzatela posted a 18.82 ERA (11.0 IP, 23 ER) over four starts July 20-Sept. 4, 2019 … also tied for the second-most earned runs allowed over four starts in franchise history. Pitched 2.2 innings in the Rockies’ 25-1 loss to the Angels June 24 … allowed nine runs on 10 hits with two walks and one strikeout … became the eighth pitcher in franchise history to allow at least nine runs on 10 or more hits in fewer than three innings (last: Germán Márquez, July 15, 2019 (G1) vs. San Francisco). Losing streak increased to five games in his last start on Saturday … tied for the longest losing streak in his career (also: April 18-May 11, 2017) … lost six consecutive decisions going back to Oct. 2, 2022.
ANNOUNCE HIS PRESENCE WITH AUTHORITY
- Made his first career start with the Rockies on May 16 vs. the Reds, drawing a no-decision in a 3-1 Rockies loss … pitched five scoreless innings with one hit allowed, one walk and three strikeouts. Became the ninth pitcher in franchise history to toss at least five scoreless innings in his first start with the club, the first since Antonio Senzatela did so in his Major League debut on April 6, 2017 … first Rockies pitcher to accomplish the feat in a home game since Drew Pomeranz on his Major League debut on Sept. 11, 2011.
RAYS OF SUNSHINE
- Made two relief appearances for Tampa Bay on May 3 and May 9, both in relief, after being acquired from Cincinnati on May 3. Pitched five innings without allowing a run in his relief appearances. Tossed three scoreless innings on May 3 vs. Pittsburgh, garnering his first career save in an 8-1 Rays win.
