Webb stumbles in short start vs. Dodgers

LOS ANGELES -- Logan Webb failed to complete five innings just once in 2023, when he led the Majors with a career-high 216 innings. But the Giants' right-hander couldn’t go deep in his first clash with the Dodgers’ star-studded lineup.

Webb needed 96 pitches to get through 3 2/3 innings in a 5-4 loss that sealed a series defeat against Los Angeles on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Webb was charged with the loss after giving up five runs on seven hits in his shortest start since July 22, 2023, when he lasted only 1 1/3 innings against the Nationals. It marked the first time he had allowed more than three runs in seven career starts at Dodger Stadium.

“His stuff looked pretty good,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He was behind in some counts, and there were some two-strike hits. I don’t know if they were sitting soft or whatever. They count. They have some guys with some decent numbers. They made him work, made him throw a lot of pitches. Obviously, not his best outing.”

The Giants (2-4) have now dropped three in a row and 13 of their last 18 games at Dodger Stadium dating to 2022.

Webb fired six innings of two-run ball in his Opening Day start against the Padres last week, but the Dodgers managed to run his pitch count up early, forcing him to throw 29 pitches in the first inning alone. Webb typically relies heavily on his changeup, but he threw his signature pitch only 15% of the time on Tuesday, a significant dip from the 41.6% he averaged in 2023.

“Definitely didn’t throw my changeup enough,” Webb said. “I thought I threw some good ones. Some not-so-good ones. I don’t know. I just didn’t throw it enough.”

Mookie Betts led off the bottom of the first by lifting Webb’s eighth pitch of the game into shallow center field for a single and then stole second and scored on Freddie Freeman’s one-out RBI single to put the Dodgers on the board.

The Giants went ahead, 2-1, behind RBI singles by Nick Ahmed and Michael Conforto, but Betts came back to tie it with a solo shot off Webb in the third.

“Honestly, anything that he does doesn’t surprise me anymore,” Webb said. “He’s the best player in baseball, I think. Maybe it’s just because he hits like .500 against me. I think he hits .500 against everybody. He’s a pretty good player. I think he’s gotten me on that pitch before. That was the home run that he had before. I don’t know. I threw it where I wanted it to, just unfortunately it was a homer.”

The Dodgers continued to pressure Webb in the fourth, when Max Muncy doubled and Teoscar Hernández walked to put runners on first and second with no outs. Webb retired James Outman on a lineout to first base, but he misplaced an 0-2 slider to No. 8 hitter Gavin Lux, who drove it to left-center field for a go-ahead RBI double.

Kiké Hernández followed with a two-run single that extended the Dodgers’ lead to 5-2. Webb exited after issuing a two-out walk to Shohei Ohtani, prompting the Giants to bring in rookie Landen Roupp to face Freeman, who flied out to end the inning.

Roupp, who was making only his third appearance above Double-A, worked a 1-2-3 fifth, though he fell into a jam after the Dodgers put a pair of runners on with no outs in the sixth. Still, the 25-year-old right-hander managed to avoid damage by striking out Kiké Hernández and Betts, who was rung up on a perfectly executed 3-2 curveball on the inside corner.

“He’s got really good stuff,” Melvin said. “That’s why he’s on the team.”

Roupp, Taylor Rogers and Ryan Walker combined for 4 1/3 scoreless innings of relief, but the Giants couldn’t complete a late comeback against the Dodgers’ bullpen.

Jorge Soler cut the deficit to 5-3 with a sixth-inning solo shot off left-hander Ryan Yarbrough -- his first homer for San Francisco -- and the Giants kept the rally going after Conforto and Wilmer Flores strung together back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with no outs. That brought up Thairo Estrada, who sent a hard-hit liner to the left side that was snared by third baseman Muncy, who quickly threw to second for the forceout.

Conforto scored from third on the play to bring the Giants within one, but pinch-hitter Austin Slater flied out to the warning track in left field and Patrick Bailey struck out to end the inning.

“We had an opportunity to come back,” Melvin said. “We had some guys on, potentially could tie it or win it. We just couldn’t get that big hit again when we put guys in with runners in scoring position.”