'We're battle-tested': Chapman plays hero for Giants with huge walk-off homer

SAN FRANCISCO -- No one plays more close games than the Giants and the Braves, who are tied for the Major League lead with 27 one-run games this year.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the first two games of their current three-game series have each been decided by one run, with the Giants managing to narrowly eke out wins both times.

Down to their last out, the Giants rallied for another dramatic walk-off win on Saturday afternoon, when Matt Chapman cranked a two-run home run off Pierce Johnson to propel his club to a 3-2 victory over the Braves at Oracle Park.

San Francisco (37-28) has won four in a row and leads the Majors with eight walk-off wins this year. The club’s 15 one-run wins -- 12 of which have come at home -- are also the most in the big leagues.

“They all come down to the last pitch,” manager Bob Melvin said. “It seems like every game does. That’s why you keep playing and keep fighting. You get a guy on, and all of a sudden, you’ve got a chance. … One swing can do it, so you just keep battling until the end.

“We’ve seen it many times. We’re used to these types of games. It feels like as many as we’ve had like this, we’re battle-tested all the way until the end. Until there’s the last out, we have a chance. I think this was obviously a sign of that.”

Logan Webb struck out 10 and held the Braves to two runs over six innings, but the Giants nearly squandered his effort after they couldn’t get much going against Braves right-hander Bryce Elder, who punched out a career-high 12 and allowed only a solo shot to Wilmer Flores over eight dominant innings.

The Giants trailed, 2-1, entering the bottom of the ninth, but Heliot Ramos got the rally going with a one-out single, which was San Francisco’s first hit since Flores’ leadoff homer in the fourth. Johnson got Flores to popup for the second out, but Chapman managed to come through by driving a 1-1 curveball out to left field for his third career walk-off home run and his first for the Giants.

“It’s nice,” said Chapman, who leads the team with 12 homers this year. “I wasn’t sure if it was going to go out or not. You never quite know here. But once it did, I was pumped. Hopefully the first of a few.”

San Francisco also walked off Friday night’s series opener, 5-4, after Tyler Fitzgerald scored from third on a wild pitch from Johnson with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning. While the Giants would prefer to score more runs early, Chapman believes their ability to consistently rally late should help build their resilience in the long run.

“I wouldn’t love to play [close games] every single day, but it’s going to serve us because we know how to play those games,” Chapman said. “We know what it takes to come out on top. When the pressure’s on, you’ve got to make a play or take a good at-bat. Everything is heightened in those moments.

“I think it’s good for us to get that experience. But it seems like we’ve played, for three weeks straight, one-run games every single day. I think everybody would prefer to probably score some more runs, but it’s nice that we’re coming out on top.”

The Giants know they always have a shot behind Webb, who has recorded a 2.58 ERA over a Major League-high 87 1/3 innings in 14 starts this year. The ultra-durable Webb has long been a mainstay atop the leaderboard for innings pitched, but he also somewhat surprisingly ranks second in the National League with 101 strikeouts in 2025.

The 28-year-old right-hander entered Saturday averaging 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings, the highest rate of his seven-year career with the Giants. Much of that can be attributed to the resurgence of his changeup, which has a 38% whiff rate this year, up from 21.6% in 2024, though he’s also done a good job of mixing in his cutter and four-seam fastball to change eye levels and keep hitters off balance.

“I’ve always said that I’m not a strikeout guy, but I think this year, I’m just mixing things up and trying to do different things,” Webb said. “Having a really good game plan has just kind of elevated that. There are a lot of games left. I feel like I’m always due for a one-strikeout game or a two-strikeout game, but hopefully I can keep that trend up. I think it makes things a little bit easier.”