Giants struggle vs. Muncy, Urías in loss to Dodgers

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants-Dodgers rivalry became increasingly one-sided last year, when San Francisco went 4-15 (.211) against Los Angeles and finished 30 games behind its Southern California counterpart in the National League West.

The Giants were unable to flip the script in their first 2023 meeting with the Dodgers, falling 9-1 in Monday night’s series opener at Oracle Park.

Longtime nemesis Max Muncy continued to torment the Giants, going 3-for-3 with two home runs and a career-high seven RBIs in the 10th multi-homer performance of his career.

Muncy launched a three-run shot off Logan Webb in the third and then broke the game open with a grand slam off rookie Sean Hjelle in the seventh. The slugging third baseman now has 23 home runs and 50 RBIs in 73 career games against the Giants, the most among opposing players since 2018.

“I think he’s a tough matchup for anybody,” manager Gabe Kapler said of Muncy. “He’s one of the better left-handed hitters around baseball over the course of the last five years. He’s certainly had his ups and downs, but he’s always dangerous. He can always take you deep. He can take you deep to the middle of the field. He can draw a walk. He’s especially patient. Really good overall hitter.

“It’s not going to surprise us to see him do damage. In order for us to win against this team, we’re going to have to avoid big innings and damage like we saw tonight. We have to do better than that.”

The Giants couldn’t get much going against Dodgers left-hander Julio Urías, who struck out eight and allowed only a solo shot to Wilmer Flores over six innings. With two key right-handed bats -- Mitch Haniger and Austin Slater -- on the injured list, the Giants have been ill-equipped to match up against lefties, batting a National League-worst .188 with a .529 OPS vs. southpaws so far this year.

More concerning is the fact that the Giants have already racked up 115 strikeouts through their first 10 games of the year, the third-most in AL/NL history over that span.

“I think we’re chasing a little bit more than we need to in order for us to be a great offensive team,” Kapler said. “I think we’re fouling off some of the pitches that we should be putting in play. A 10-game sample is not enough to get bent out of shape or jump into any conclusions. We have to play better baseball. We have to swing the bat better. We have to play an overall better brand to win games. But it’s certainly not a reason for us to dramatically change course with our approach.”

Webb was charged with the loss after giving up four runs on six hits over six innings in his first home start of the year. The 26-year-old right-hander is 0-3 with a 6.35 ERA through his first three outings of 2023 and has surrendered four home runs over 17 innings, an unusual trend considering he gave up only 11 homers over 192 1/3 innings in 2022.

“Just too many mistake pitches,” Webb said. “[Terrible] job by me.”

Webb’s night began on an ominous note, as Mookie Betts blasted his fifth pitch of the game out to left field for a leadoff home run, firing up the sizable contingent of Dodgers fans at Oracle Park. Webb ran into more trouble in the third, when he missed a chance to turn an inning-ending double play on Freddie Freeman’s 59.3 mph comebacker.

The ball ended up deflecting off Webb’s glove, allowing Freeman to reach on an infield single and Betts to advance to third on a subsequent throwing error by shortstop Brandon Crawford. Two batters later, Muncy crushed a misplaced slider into the Giants’ bullpen in center field, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 4-0.

“It’s 100 percent a play I need to make,” Webb said. “That’s what happens when you make a stupid play like that. It comes back to haunt you.”

While Webb has been uncharacteristically homer-prone early this year, Kapler said he’s confident the trend won’t be “problematic long term.”

“What I see from Logan is a guy who’s getting swing-and-misses and not walking guys,” Kapler said. “He’s throwing hard. This is a good signal early in the year that he’s coming out throwing 94 [mph]. Obviously, in order for us to beat a team like the Dodgers, he’s going to have to be great, and he wasn’t at his best tonight. That was the difference in the game.”