Tony Vitello, Logan Webb recap Giants' missed opportunities after loss to Tigers
Tony Vitello and Logan Webb speak to reporters after the San Francisco Giants' 3-1 loss in 10 innings to the Detroit Tigers on Sunday at Oracle Park.
Tony Vitello, Logan Webb recap Giants' missed opportunities after loss to Tigers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
Tony, how would you describe, Logan's outing today?
Phenomenal.
Always gritty.
He didn't say anything to me, but probably a little bit under the weather, too, which, which adds to it a little bit.
Hot hitting team coming in as well, and then kind of a no room for error game.
And then he, he obviously was able to do so 'cause he kept his pitch count, down the way that it was.
But again, no room for error, and to get out of the eighth inning the way he did was kind of the exclamation point on a great outing.
What's he under the weather with, and how is Susac?
Oh, I think just not feeling 100%.
I don't think anything major of note, but, Susac, x-ray's good.
Just a contusion there, and it was hard to tell if it was a stinger where it was just numb for a while, kind of like you hit your funny bone or something and eventually it goes away, or if it's something that was gonna linger.
And, probably the contusion just kind of shut everything down, working around it.
So, doing the at bat wasn't gonna A- and for him to stay back there was a little bit more of just his toughness and stubbornness, and then also him and Webby kind of hooked up there.
But there was no way we could do another at bat.
What was your impressions of Melton this afternoon?
Worth the hype.
You know, I know he's, he's kind of the guy now with those other two guys exiting.
And, big body, works really quick.
Takes a breather when he needs to.
Obviously the cutter's a difference maker for him.
But when you You're almost He- he's got a good sense of when you're focusing on that too much, when to add in.
I mean, the split's just kind of an extra pitch for him, but his other stuff's so good, and he's smart about when he uses it.
It, it can finish a hitter off like it did a couple times.
So, he's got a lot going on there for him.
Your team didn't wind up with a ton of, you know, guys in scoring position oppor- type opportunities, but h- what did you think of the at bats when you did get those?
I mean, based off the video I've watched off, you know, Melton, I thought, I thought our guys had really good at bats.
There was a lot of hard contacts.
We had a guy thrown out at the plate.
So, m- maybe you want the pitch count, but I mean, he's a guy who attacks.
Another way to beat a guy is war of attrition.
And so maybe some longer at bats would've been desired, but the swings, for the most part, against him were as good as anyone's done.
So that part was good.
I think s- something that's starting to rack up consistently, and part of it is nature of our lineup, but also part of it is just maybe a little better approach needed is just doing a better job against left-handed pitching.
Sam Hentges has been so good for you, especially s- you know, since he came off the IL.
It, very, very rare, I'm sure he wasn't very happy with it today.
But what, what do you feel like he's given you since he's, he's been here s- since then?
I think kind of a, kind of a swing man.
He hasn't been asked to close a game, but I think could do that.
But he's, he's kind of a guy we lean on to get out of jams.
In particular that, that starter inning that's kind of his last inning can be so big and, he's been a guy we've leaned on the most there.
And then the one thing, if you're not a big strikeout guy coming out of the bullpen these days with how these guys are throwing, you need to be very well-balanced against left and right.
And, you know, we, y- y- you, we go over the pinch hit possibilities before the game, but he's been so good on right-handed hitters for us.
It- it's kind of helped him stay in games or go into games an- and then also have success when he's out there.
But yeah, he's, he's been a rock for us down there.
And it's good to see Foley's kind of picking up some steam.
You know, you gotta give a guy some grace when he comes off injuries like the way he did, and it had kind of been a couple good outings, a couple really bad outings.
But he seems to kind of be picking up some steam, so hopefully those three guys and some others can carry the load.
Logan, how'd you feel about the outing today, especially ge- getting through eight?
I thought, I thought Sus did a great job calling games, the game today.
And then, defense made some really good plays.
It was a tough lineup.
I think they've been one of the better teams since the All-Star break.
And just in general, it's a good They got a good baseball team over there.
And, yeah, just, you know, yeah, happy I was able to, keep the team in the game.
What was hard for you?
Kind of just a mix of different pitches.
I think not getting too predictable with anything.
I had some weird, some weird shapes throughout the day.
It was kind of, I don't know, maybe the wind was weird.
Maybe I was just, just something wrong with my mechanics, but it was just I've been I think it kind of, in a way, weirdly helped me 'cause it was different than maybe what they were expecting.
But it just, yeah, weird shape day.
But at the end of the day, all that matters is, is getting outs.
Which pitches in particular, say, were weird?
Pretty m- my two off-speed pitches were definitely a little different than usual, so I don't know what it was.
Was this the first game that, Susac had called, like, been the one calling pitches since you kind of took over doing that?
Third game.
Third game.
And it's been good s- so far, so better not mess it up.
Just kidding.
Tony mentioned that you're under the weather.
Are you feeling okay overall?
Yeah, I, I started not feeling great yesterday, and then today I felt pretty bad.
But, got a lot of good medicine in here.
It made me feel a little better.
Is it just a cold or something?
I think so, yeah.
What'd you think of, the salvo in the third?
The what?
With the, with the salvo in the third, there's a double play.
Oh, it was incredible.
I was on the mound.
I was like, "Wow."
I gave him a high five after.
It was a great play.
Helped, kept us, you know, if that gets through, inning changes, but it was a, it was a great play, and you can just see the confidence when he's playing.
So it's, it was fun to see.
Um- You and Susak have worked so well together.
It would be a little alarming to see him, you know, foul a pitch off of the left place, especially like that, when you- Yeah.
Yeah, I don't know.
I've never, I don't think I ever At least when I hit, I don't remember getting a foul ball off my knee like that, so I can only imagine.
He's got a pretty high pain tolerance already.
He gets hit a lot.
Catchers in general get hit a lot, so it must've been pretty good.
I haven't seen the video of it, but, yeah, it must've been pretty good.
I know Justin meant a lot to you, but he was only here for the one year.
Yeah.
Was it meaningful to see him get his kind of flowers there between innings?
Yeah, I was kind of waiting for, you know, the first few games I thought they would do it, and then, I, I, maybe I missed it.
I thought I maybe I missed it, or I saw him a couple of days ago, and I, I told him they were going to do it at some point.
He was like, "I don't know."
I was like, "You're Justin Verlander.
Like, you're going to get They're going to say something at some point."
But happy I was able to be on the mound.
You know, I got to kind of tip my cap to him and, clap for him.
It was great.
I missed about two warm-up pitches 'cause I was clapping.
So, but it was, you know, he's one of the greatest pitchers of all time, and I was lucky enough to be around him for a year.
Wish I could've spent 10 years with him, as my teammate.
But, I have a, a friend for life and a mentor for life, so I got to It was good to, I guess, be able to tip my cap and then kind of basically give him his flowers.
Last year you were, you know, such a big strikeout number guy, but, you know, obviously it cost you some, maybe some, some innings here and there.
So have you kind of, I don't know, moved back toward the other direction?
How do you balance that?
I couldn't tell you.
I don't, I, I don't Maybe I tricked some people last year.
I don't know what it was.
But, at the end of the day, it's all about, as long as you're putting up zeros and, and going deep into games, that's all I really care about.
I don't enjoy striking out two guys in eight innings.
You know, I'm trying to, I'm trying to strike people out and get swing and miss and, but I'll also take eight innings of, of one-run baseball.
And, I think they come in, kind of come in bunches, and last year I think they just came in a lot of bunches.
