SAN FRANCISCO — Not much was working for Logan Webb. Absolutely nothing worked for the Giants against Zac Gallen.
The Diamondbacks’ patient approach at the plate has given the Giants problems all season. So games can spiral if the starter isn’t on point. Webb, who rarely falters, didn’t have his usual stuff and Arizona slammed him for five runs in the Giants’ 5-0 loss on Thursday afternoon.
Webb didn’t record a strikeout for the first time in any of his 69 MLB starts.
Trouble started in the third inning, when a leadoff walk to Sergio Alcantra snowballed into a two-run inning for Arizona fueled by a single for Dalton Varsho and back-to-back doubles from Stone Garrett and Josh Rojas.
The lead got out of hand in the fifth inning when Joc Pederson dropped a hard-hit, but fairly routine fly ball in left field to set up hot-hitting Christian Walker for a two-strike single. Jake McCarthy and Carson Kelly made it pay with two RBI singles to make it 5-0 and force Webb out of the game. He’d given up nine hits and three walks.
But the loss wasn’t all on Webb. Listless at-bats from Wednesday night’s loss continued into Thursday against Zac Gallen, who faced the minimum batters until Joc Pederson’s two-out single in the sixth inning.
Evan Longoria’s double down the third base line put both runners in scoring position for Brandon Belt, who struck out on a head-scratching bunt attempt to strand the runners. The Oracle Park fans boo’d and Gallen, who then had a career-high 12 strikeouts, chuckled.
