Right-hander Logan Webb will have a little extra incentive on Tuesday night when he and the San Francisco Giants oppose the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks in the middle game of a three-game series.
Webb (7-3, 2.98 ERA) was denied a spot on the National League All-Star team despite some of the best statistics among the league’s starting pitchers this season.
The 25-year-old also had a stellar 2021 season, when he went 11-3 with a 3.03 ERA. Webb earned the 2022 Opening Day nod ahead of Carlos Rodon, who likewise had been considered a strong candidate to make the NL team based on his 8-5 record and 2.70 ERA this season.
“I made it last year,” said Rodon, clearly more upset about Webb than himself this year. “For guys that have never been — like Webby and some other guys around the league — it’s probably a bummer for them because they put together such a good first half.”
Webb also went unrewarded for eight stellar innings in his latest start, in San Diego on Thursday, when he limited the Padres to one run on six hits. He did not get a decision in an eventual 2-1, 10-inning loss.
Webb did not face the Diamondbacks in a three-game series in Phoenix last week in which the Giants lost twice. He has gone 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA against them in three lifetime starts, and he has never allowed a home run to Arizona in 17 innings.
The Diamondbacks are expected to counter on Tuesday with left-hander Dallas Keuchel (2-6, 7.63), a two-time All-Star who has been far from in top form this season.
Keuchel was released by the Chicago White Sox on May 30 and signed with Arizona a week later. He has gone 0-1 with a 7.16 ERA in three starts since changing teams, although he is coming off his best of the three Arizona outings, having held the Colorado Rockies to three runs in seven innings in a 4-3 home loss on Thursday.
Keuchel has never beaten the Giants in three career starts, going 0-2 with a 3.71 ERA. He performed well in his most recent meeting with San Francisco while pitching for the Atlanta Braves on Sept. 22, 2019, when he allowed three runs (two earned) in six innings during a 4-1 home loss.
The 34-year-old also had an impressive outing in his only previous appearance at Oracle Park, limiting the Giants to one run and three hits in six innings in a 2-1 Houston Astros win on Aug. 7, 2018.
Keuchel has been in the Diamondbacks’ organization for just over a month, but already manager Torey Lovullo is warming to him.
“He’s easy to root for,” the skipper said. “First of all, he’s prepared. He understands what is happening in each at-bat. I felt like he was going to be able to command the baseball, and I felt like it was getting a little bit better each start. (The outing against the Rockies) kind of defines who he is — just pounding the zone and getting a lot of ground-ball outs.”
Only six current Giants have ever collected a hit off of Keuchel. That list includes Mike Yastrzemski, who has gone 2-for-2 with a double and a walk.
Yastrzemski had one of San Francisco’s eight hits in the Giants’ 4-3 loss to the Diamondbacks on Monday, a leadoff single in the ninth with his team down by one run.
The Giants never got the tying run in scoring position, however, as former San Francisco closer Mark Melancon retired the last three batters in order for Arizona’s third win over the Giants in the past eight days.
–Field Level Media
