A win eludes Webb, despite 6 K's vs. Miami

MIAMI -- A few days ago, Logan Webb was all smiles as he talked about his new contract with the San Francisco Giants on a video conference call.

Following his first start since signing that five-year, $90 million extension, Webb was certainly in a much different mood.

Webb gave up a pinch-hit two-run homer to Miami’s Jorge Soler with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, leading the Giants to a 4-3 loss at loanDepot park on Monday night. It came on the final pitch of the night for Webb, who is winless through four starts.

Soler had been 0-for-10 with seven strikeouts against Webb in his career, but on Monday, he crushed Webb's 0-1 slider over the wall in deep center.

The Giants have lost their past four games.

“It was middle-middle. Not a very good pitch,’’ a dejected and quiet Webb said afterward. “I have to be better. … It was just a bad pitch. If I face him again, I would probably throw the slider again. I just wouldn’t throw it there. Or try not to at least.”

Soler said through interpreter Luis Dorante Jr.: “You see his slider always tends to go outside, and that one just was on the plate.”

"[Webb] pitched really well," manager Gabe Kapler said. “[He] missed with the slider there to Soler and that was pretty much the game.’’

Webb (0-4, 4.94 ERA) had a strong outing until the seventh, facing just two batters over the minimum through the opening four innings and three through five innings.

In the seventh, however, Jean Segura led off with an chopper off the plate, reaching on the infield hit. Then Segura cruised into third on a single from Jesús Sánchez down the vacant third-base line as J.D. Davis was playing wide toward second.

A 6-4-3 double play appeared to calm things down, but first-base umpire Lance Barrett called a balk on Webb with Segura trotting home from third with what appeared to be the game-tying run.

Only Webb had informed the second- and third-base umpires he was pitching from the windup; after a brief conversation amongst the umpires, the balk was rescinded.

Segura returned to third, although he was not there long, as the shot from Soler brought him home.

The Giants held the lead since the second inning, prior to the homer.

“Part of the reason a hitter may be struggling like that is because a lot of pitches are executed,” Kapler said of Soler’s 0-for-10 run against Webb. "In the moment, although he had the best possible intentions with that slider, he probably left it too much in the middle of the plate. Soler is a big, strong dude, [he] squared it up and hit a homer.”

Webb said: “I felt good out there. Unfortunately, the results were the same in the first three. … I know I haven’t done my job. We should have won the game today. Early lead, I messed it up. I’m just not doing my job.”

The biggest hit of the night for the Giants came from David Villar in the third inning, as he tagged an old teammate for a two-run double.

Villar and Marlins starter Jesús Luzardo grew up playing on travel teams together in the Miami area and even attended American Heritage School together -- located north of Miami in Broward County -- for a time.

While Villar stayed at Heritage to play his high school ball, Luzardo followed their old coach to Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Fla.

The two met a few times during their prep years, but nothing like Monday night.

“He is a year younger, but we always played for the same teams,’’ Villar said. “I saw him when he was real young and then he peaked. By the time I left high school, he was throwing 98, 99 [mph]. I didn’t even recognize the guy. He has turned into a really good ballplayer and I am happy for him. But I got a good pitch to hit.”

It was a big homecoming for Villar, who said he had no idea how many friends and family members piled into the ballpark to cheer him on. Regardless of the number, they brought the energy.

“I had more than I could even recognize," said Villar, who returned to loanDepot park for the first time since he played there in a high school game years prior. "It was family, family friends -- their friends. I heard my cousin, heard a number of family members I could point out. It was pretty cool.”