What we learned as Logan Webb pitches well, but bats go quiet in loss to Dodgers
What we learned as Logan Webb pitches well, but bats go quiet in loss to Dodgers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — With a chance to sweep the Dodgers for the first time in three years, the Giants returned to their early season ways at the plate.
The lineup had just one hit off righty Tyler Glasnow and lefty Tanner Scott cruised through the ninth inning of a 3-0 win for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Giants took two of three in the series, but couldn’t finish what would have been their first sweep of the Dodgers since June 16-18, 2023.
A night after Patrick Bailey’s heroics , the Giants fell behind early. Dalton Rushing gave the Dodgers the lead with a two-out single in the second and they scored two more runs in the fourth after Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy led off with back-to-back doubles. The second run in that frame also came with two outs, continuing an early trend for Logan Webb , who hasn’t put hitters and innings away as easily as he did last year.
After facing Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani in the first two games of the series, the Giants had to deal with Glasnow, who has one of the nastiest repertoires in the game but is somehow a fourth starter in Los Angeles .
Glasnow didn’t allow a hit until the fourth, when Luis Arráez dropped a single just in front of center fielder Andy Pages . There wouldn’t be another one, as he struck out nine and allowed just one hit and one walk over eight dominant innings.
Logan vs. Los Angeles
Webb retired the side in order in the first, but didn’t have another clean inning. The Dodgers put at least one on in each of the next six frames, but Webb twice got double plays, including one from Ohtani.
Webb ended up going seven for the second time in six starts. He has allowed at least three earned in five of those starts, and walked off Thursday with a 4.86 ERA.
The damage in the fourth came on Webb’s two best pitches. He elevated a changeup to Tucker and then left one up to Muncy. The pitch to Hyeseong Kim was a four-seam fastball, but was also up.
Rushing Revenge
There are times when a ball simply gets away, and then there are times when it’s pretty obvious what’s happening. The fastball that hit Rushing in the ribs in the sixth inning fit into the latter category.
Rushing was behind the plate on Monday when Jung Hoo Lee got thrown out and was slow to get up after a slide that aggravated a quad injury. The young catcher appeared to say “f–k ’em” as he walked off the field, but a day later he denied that that was what he said . Lee later spoke to Kim, who passed along that Rushing wanted to apologize if there was a misunderstanding. The hit-by-pitch was immediately wiped out by a double play, although Rushing did go into second pretty hard.
This was the second time early on that the Giants have appeared to retaliate. Landen Roupp hit Spencer Steer in Cincinnati last week, and again, there was little doubt about the intent.
Enjoy It While You Can
Ohtani grounded out softly in the first and then struck out twice and hit into a double play against Webb. With two runners on in the top of the ninth, he hit a soft flyball to left. In the series, he was 1-for-13 with five strikeouts.
Of course, because he’s Ohtani, he also threw six shutout innings on Wednesday and repeatedly hit 100 mph, dropping some jaws in the home dugout. At the plate, though, this was as good as the Giants have ever fared against the game’s best player. Ohtani had 10 homers and drove in 19 runs in 26 rivalry games in 2024-25.
