Logan Webb wasn’t thrilled with Giants manager Gabe Kapler’s decision to pull him out of Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the Miami Marlins with two outs late in the fifth inning.
Deep down, Webb is a competitor at heart and, when faced with a difficult situation, he wants to get out of it. It’s an endearing quality for a pitcher and, in its simplest form, a human being.
So when Webb was taken out at LoanDepot Park after giving up a first single to Marlins right fielder Avisail Garcia, an RBI double to center fielder Jesús Sánchez, a single to third baseman Jon Berti and a walk to second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., the 25-year-old right-hander understood the decision but was certainly not happy about it. After all, the Giants were still up 4-2, and Webb only needed one more out to escape the block.
Instead, John Brebbia came on and allowed a two-run single to Garrett Cooper, and the Marlins eventually won it in the ninth on Sanchez’s sacrifice off Tyler Rogers.
Speaking with reporters after the game, Webb’s quick and concise response to questions about the decision made his frustrations clear.
Q: “Were you surprised when the manager came out with two outs in the fifth?”
“Yeah.”
Q: “Was there a conversation?”
“Nope.”
Webb was asked if he was OK with Kapler’s recent trend of pulling starters earlier in games, to which he took a moment to collect his thoughts and answered honestly.
“That’s a tough question,” said Webb, who threw 87 pitches in 4 2/3 innings and allowed four runs on four hits, walked two and struck out six. “No, I didn’t want to get out of the game, I’ll just say that.”
Kapler pulled Webb after his second visit to the mound this round. Webb knew he wasn’t throwing well and, in turn, he didn’t have a lot of cases to argue.
“You kinda know me – I like to compete, I wanted to compete and I didn’t throw well, so I get it,” Webb admitted. “But the competitor in me didn’t like it too much. Yeah, I just wanted to keep competing.”
Kapler spoke to Webb after the game, and the Giants ace’s disappointment was complete after a promising outing went sour.
“Yes, I spoke to him,” Kapler said. “He’s disappointed, I think he’s disappointed on every level. I don’t think there’s much more to say about it than that.”
“I don’t think Logan had his best thing today. I think he’ll share that with you,” Kapler said. “…As you have seen, it was difficult for him to approach the strike zone with [Jazz Chisholm], which left us a little embarrassed because we didn’t know if he was going to be able to continue attacking the strike zone. We felt we had some really good options in the bullpen and John Brebbia, who was coming off a great outing yesterday.”
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Minus the bullpen game in Friday’s 15-6 win over the Marlins, the Giants’ starters have been retired in the fifth inning or earlier in each of the last four starts.
Coming off a dominating outing against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday in which Webb went eight innings while striking out 10 batters, Saturday’s start was certainly disappointing for a young pitcher who worked his way through a season over of which he was not the sharpest. .
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