PHOENIX _ First came Matt Cain. Then it was Tim Lincecum. Soon to follow was Madison Bumgarner.
The Giants built three World Series championship clubs on the shoulders of homegrown talent, enjoying an embarrassment of riches with first-round draft choices who quickly emerged as stars.
The golden trio of starters have some of the most impressive resumes in franchise history, but none can say they accomplished what rookie right-hander Logan Webb did on Saturday at Chase Field.
With five innings of two-run ball in the Giants' 11-6 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, Webb became the first Giants starting pitcher in more than 10 years to earn a win in his MLB debut.
Over the last two decades, 14 other Giants pitchers including Cain, Lincecum and Bumgarner debuted in a starting role, but Webb joined Ryan Sadowski as the only other to secure a victory in his debut as Sadowski beat the Brewers with six shutout innings on June 28, 2009 in Milwaukee.
Five days after the Rocklin, Calif., native made his Triple-A debut in front of his family and dozens of friends in a 3-2 loss with the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, Webb led the Giants to their third straight win and sixth victory in the team's last seven games.
The 22-year-old became the youngest Giants starter to debut since Bumgarner, who was 20 when he took a no-decision after tossing 5 1/3 innings in a 4-3 loss to the Padres on September 8, 2009. Unlike Bumgarner, Webb was a fourth-round draft choice when the Giants selected him out of high school in 2014, but he's considered one of the top pitching prospects the organization has developed in recent years.
After the Giants fell behind 2-0 in the first, first baseman Brandon Belt launched his second career grand slam to put the club ahead in the top of the second. Belt's second home run in as many nights immediately gave Webb a confidence boost, and it showed with the way he carried himself over his final four innings.
With his father Erik and mother Christie sitting in the lower box along the first base line, Webb showcased a low-to-mid 90s fastball, hard slider and polished changeup that helped make him the organization's top pitching prospect entering the season.
Despite missing half the year due to a PED suspension, Webb left little doubt in recent weeks that he deserved an opportunity to pitch in the majors and he proved why throughout an impressive debut.
Webb became the third Giants starter since 1958 to strike out at least seven hitters in a MLB debut, joining teammate Andrew Suarez who struck out seven on April 11, 2018 against the Diamondbacks and Juan Marichal who struck out 12 on July 19, 1960 against the Phillies.
The right-hander faced an immediate challenge from Arizona as he walked the first hitter of the game, Jarrod Dyson, before giving up a RBI double to second baseman Wilmer Flores. An error from third baseman Evan Longoria led to an unearned run later in the inning, but after Arizona took a 2-0 lead, Webb cruised through the bottom of the fifth.
On his 93rd pitch of the night, the right-hander induced a 1-6-3 double play from Eduardo Escobar to cap off one of the best debuts for a Giants starting pitcher in the last quarter century.
As Webb walked off the mound for the final time on Saturday, he pumped his fist, shouted into his glove and heard the cheers from a contingent of family friends that had the chance to watch him make his first career Triple-A start earlier this week.
For the second straight day, the Giants overcame an early deficit to build a sizable advantage as Longoria added a sacrifice fly to score Brandon Crawford in the bottom of the second. Belt added a bloop single that brought home a run in the third and the Giants scored again in the sixth when Longoria bounced into a bases-loaded double play.
The Giants scored twice in the seventh and twice in the eighth, adding on key insurance runs a night after their bullpen blew a five-run lead in the seventh and a two-run lead in the bottom of the 10th.
Belt matched his single-game career-high with his sixth RBI on a groundout in the eighth inning and Kevin Pillar set a new career-high with five hits in five at-bats, but no offensive contributors were going to overshadow Webb on Saturday.
The rookie wasn't dominant nor did he pitch deep into the game, but he gave the Giants reason to believe that he can contribute in a meaningful way over the final six weeks of the season.
For a club that's now two games over .500 and fighting for a wild-card berth, that's a start. A winning one at that.
