SAN FRANCISCO — Eleven years after Jonathan Sanchez and a “band of misfits” clinched the National League West crown with a victory over the Padres on the final day of the regular season, Logan Webb put the Giants on his back and willed the team to another stunning division title.
The 24-year-old right-hander completed seven strong innings and outdid Sanchez’s memorable triple by launching his first career home run in a 11-4 victory.
As the Dodgers secured their 106th win of the season with another blowout of the Brewers in Los Angeles, the Giants set a franchise record by earning their 107th victory to outlast their rivals in the greatest division race in major league history.
Nearly three weeks after the Giants became the first club to clinch a playoff berth, they were the last division champion to be crowned as they won eight of their last nine and 23 of their final 30 games to maintain a lead over the Dodgers they’ve held since winning the final head-to-head matchup between the clubs on September 5.
From Mike Tauchman’s leaping home run robbery at Dodger Stadium on May 28 to LaMonte Wade Jr.’s two tie-breaking hits against Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, the Giants’ dramatic 10-to-9 win in the season series between the two clubs proved to be the difference on the final day of the schedule.
By winning Sunday, the Giants avoided a potential Game 163 to determine the NL West champion on Monday and also clinched home field advantage throughout the postseason. Gabe Kapler’s club, which set a record for the most wins for a team that finished under .500 the previous season, will play its next game Friday at Oracle Park against the winner of the NL wild card game between the Dodgers and a red-hot Cardinals team that won 17 games in a row during a historic September streak.
After failing to protect a one-run eighth inning lead in a 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Padres on Saturday, Webb and the Giants left little doubt about the outcome of Sunday’s game with an inspired performance.
Webb struck out the side in the first inning as he induced whiffs from Padres stars Fernando Tatís Jr. and Manny Machado which elicited hearty cheers from a crowd of 36,901.
The Giants had several hard-hit balls in the first few innings against Padres starter Reiss Knehr, but it wasn’t until catcher Buster Posey delivered a two-out, two-run single in the third that they cashed in. Posey is the only member of the current Giants roster who played alongside Sanchez in 2010, and he also made critical contributions in that season’s division-clinching win by homering and catching a shutout.
After the Padres cut their deficit in half with a sacrifice fly from Manny Machado in the fourth, the floodgates opened for the Giants’ offense as San Francisco scored five runs including four that were charged to Padres reliever Dinelson Lamet. Lamet battled significant command issues before second baseman Tommy La Stella blooped a bases loaded RBI single into right field.
The most important hit of the inning came from Flores, who Kapler has consistently called one of the best clutch hitters in baseball. After right-hander Craig Stammen replaced Lamet, Flores drilled a two-run double into the left field corner to give the Giants a four-run lead.
A sacrifice fly from LaMonte Wade Jr. and another RBI single from Posey extended the Giants’ advantage, but the defining blow from Sunday’s season finale came from Webb, who crushed a changeup from Nabil Crismatt over the left field wall for his first career homer and the last one hit by the Giants in a season in which they set a franchise record for home runs.
The Padres finally chased Webb in the eighth inning after he allowed three straight singles, but he exited with the game in hand and a newfound place in the hearts of Giants fans everywhere.
