SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS NOTES:
TODAY’S GAME: With last night’s game postponed due to inclement weather, SF looks to kick off its final road trip of the season tonight with game one of this four-game set against the Rockies. Yesterday’s game is rescheduled for 11:10 a.m. PT tomorrow as the first game of a split doubleheader, with tomorrow’s 5:10 p.m. PT first pitch to be played as scheduled. 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).
ROSTER MOVES: The Giants made the following roster moves this morning: IF Casey Schmitt optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. OF Michael Conforto (#8) reinstated from the 10-day IL.
WHERE WE STAND: SF’s recent success has brought the club back into a Wild Card spot for the first time since September 3, when the Giants, Dbacks, Marlins and Reds were all tied (.511) for the third spot. At 75-71 (.514), the Giants are currently tied with Arizona and Cincinnati (76-72, .514) for the third WC spot…Miami is just 0.5 games back of the group. Entering today, FanGraphs gave SF a 47.5% 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 celebrated 10 years of Major League service yesterday, 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.
IT’S GETTING LATE: IF/OF LaMonte Wade Jr. played in his 350th career game Wednesday and delivered the game-winning RBI in the 10th…it was Wade’s second time recording a walkoff RBI in the 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. 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 fifth-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 (22)…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.
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 60.5% 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:
No team release available.
