PITTSBURGH -- When Logan Webb toed the rubber ahead of his 35th pitch of the third inning Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, the idea of him laboring through six and being eligible for his 10th win of the season seemed like a long shot. As it turned out, Webb had plenty more in the tank.
Webb went on to deal six innings of one-run ball in the Giants’ 8-1 victory over the Pirates at PNC Park, helping push the club back to .500 on the season.
The two-time All-Star weathered a difficult stretch in July in consecutive starts against the Dodgers, Blue Jays and Mets, but he has seemingly righted the ship with back-to-back outings of at least 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball and double-digit strikeouts.
“Those three [starts] weren't very good,” said Webb, who lowered his ERA to 3.24 on the season. “Just trying to put together as many [quality starts] to give the team a chance. I don't think I did a great job of that leading up to this, so happy I was able to do that the last two. I just have to keep going.”
Webb (10-8) was sharp early on, striking out four Pirates in the first two innings, but ran into trouble the second time through the order. Pittsburgh got on the board in the third inning after recording four straight one-out singles. Still, despite the high pitch count, Webb was able to limit damage with the bases loaded via a strikeout of Oneil Cruz and a Nick Gonzales groundout, retaining a 2-1 lead. He settled in shortly after, allowing just two baserunners the rest of the way.
“A guy like [Cruz], just don't throw a bad pitch, because he’ll whack you pretty good,” Webb said. “It wasn't necessarily hard contact, all the hits before that. Just trying to make some good pitches and trust [catcher Patrick Bailey].”
Webb struck out 10 batters and didn’t walk any. It marked his sixth game this season with 10 or more strikeouts, tied with Zack Wheeler and trailing only Tarik Skubal (eight) for most across the Majors. It also marked his fourth outing of the season where he recorded 10 strikeouts without allowing a walk, the most by a Giants pitcher in a season in at least 125 seasons, per MLB researcher Sarah Langs.
“He’s just more efficient early on and getting through the first couple innings pretty quickly,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “Obviously, the third cost him [35 pitches] and the 10 strikeouts don't help, but it’s nice to be able to get six innings out of him and not have to use some guys.
“We’re kind of getting used to seeing the double-digit strikeouts that he’s never really done before in his career,” Melvin said.
Webb’s 165 strikeouts on the season are the second most in the National League behind Wheeler’s 182.
"Man, the arsenal, the pitch mix. He's pumping strikes,” Pirates interim manager Don Kelly said. “Going back-to-back [starts of about] 110 pitches and just mixing everything up. Different looks with the fastball in-out, but the sweeper and changeup, the changeup especially, he can throw it to righty and lefty."
Midway through his outing, the seventh-year big leaguer eclipsed the 1,000 inning mark for his career.
“Yeah, it’s cool. 2,500 away from Justin [Verlander], so I’ve got some work to do,” Webb joked.
His performance was backed offensively by three home runs. It was an all-around effort that Webb believes resulted in one of the team’s best wins in quite some time.
Batting in the nine-hole against Pirates rookie starter Mike Burrows, Christian Koss got the scoring going in the third inning when he delivered a Statcast-projected 419-foot two-run blast into the left-field bleachers.
An inning later, playing in just his ninth game of the season and his first since getting activated from the injured list on Monday, Jerar Encarnacion launched his first home run of the season to push the Giants’ lead to 3-1.
Willy Adames slugged his 18th home run of the season, a two-run blast, to make it 6-1 in the fifth, chasing Burrows from the game.
The victory puts the Giants 5 1/2 games back of the third NL Wild Card spot, pending the result of the Padres’ game on Tuesday night.
“We’ve got to turn around and keep that momentum going,” Webb said. “Not get complacent -- not that we were, I just think we’ve got to keep that same energy that we brought early in the season and just get back to trying to play good baseball and win each day. That’s really all we can try and do.”