Ace Logan Webb and the San Francisco Giants get an opportunity to turn the tables on the Atlanta Braves when the clubs make a quick turnaround from a series last week in a three-game set that begins Friday night in California.
Atlanta took two of three at home from San Francisco last Friday through Sunday, winning the first two games before the Giants escaped town with a 4-3 win in the finale.
Webb (9-9, 3.36 ERA) pitched the middle game of the series, a contest the Giants led 5-4 when he was pulled after six innings. Eddie Rosario’s two-run home run off Tyler Rogers in the eighth flipped the outcome in Atlanta’s favor.
Webb didn’t get a decision, leaving him unbeaten (1-0) in four August starts. He’d allowed just four earned runs over 21 1/3 innings in the three games before running into the powerful Braves.
Ronald Acuna Jr. had a home run off the right-hander in the win, while Rosario preceded his game-winning blast with three straight hits, including a double, off Webb.
The 26-year-old has never lost to the Braves in his career, going 2-0 with a 2.18 ERA in five starts.
To kick off a six-game homestand, Webb will be pitching a series opener for the first time since beating the Los Angeles Angels 8-3 on Aug. 7. Since then, the Giants have dropped series openers to the Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Rays, Braves and Philadelphia Phillies as part of a stretch in which they’ve gone 4-10.
One thing that will be different about the Giants team the Braves will see this week is the addition of Paul DeJong at shortstop. The veteran was picked up by San Francisco after he’d been released by the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.
DeJong helped the Giants avoid a three-game sweep in Philadelphia in his team debut Wednesday with three hits and four RBIs, a day capped by a two-run, go-ahead single in the 10th inning of an 8-6 win.
DeJong had gone 3-for-44 for the Blue Jays.
“It just feels right,” he said of landing with the Giants. “It was almost a reset for me even joining this team. That’s how I felt going into (Wednesday’s game). For me to have a clean slate was really great for my mental approach.”
There’ll be nothing unfamiliar about the pitcher the Giants will see in the series opener. Right-hander Spencer Strider (14-4, 3.57) limited San Francisco to one hit in seven shutout innings when the Braves opened last week’s series with a 4-0 win.
Strider hasn’t allowed a run in either of his last two starts spanning 14 innings, during which he’s struck out 16 and served up just four hits.
Unlike the Giants, who have lost their last six series, the Braves flew west having captured their fourth straight series with a 7-0 home win over the New York Mets on Wednesday.
Marcell Ozuna, who had three hits in the game Webb pitched in Atlanta last week, went 8-for-11 in three outings against the Mets with four home runs and seven RBIs.
“Every night, you just assume something even better is going to happen,” Braves manager Brian Snitker gushed of Ozuna. “He looks like the real Marcell Ozuna. Boy, the ball is really jumping off his bat.”
–Field Level Media
