By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–How good is Logan Webb?

Really good, consistently good, Tim Lincecum good, and since his truncated Major League debut that saw him pitch intermittently in 2019 and 2020, noticeably good.

And how good was he on this blustery Wednesday afternoon at Oracle Park? Good.

“Logan definitely held up his end of the bargain,” according to manager Gabe Kapler.

“I think at this point he’s ready for a full workload. I thought his sinker was particularly sharp today. And then the last inning of work in the eighth, he was really working fast. You could tell their was a full head of steam and a lot of confidence, and I thought that was his best inning.”

Webb became the first pitcher in either league this season to pitch eight innings, in what was the lengthiest stint in his career thus far, while befuddling the Padres in a 2-1 Giants’ win. The 25-year old threw 96 pitches, allowing four hits, a first-inning run and no walks. Kapler admitted he briefly thought about bringing Webb back out for the ninth.

“We haven’t hit our stride offensively yet,” Padres’ manager Bob Melvin said. “But Webb was really good today. Enough breaking balls too, to just keep you off the kind of the moving away fastballs, sinker/changeup. Yeah, he’s a pretty good pitcher.”

If anything, Melvin knows what it supposed to look like as a big league manager for nearly two decades following a lengthy career a big league catcher. And no doubt, his ringing endorsement confirms that Webb has what it takes. Keeping hitters off-balance, rarely allowing solid contact, and doing so by interchanging pitches that initially look the same but send big league batters into guess mode.

Jake Cronenworth’s RBI triple, and Manny Machado’s double that preceded Cronenworth were San Diego’s only highlights. After that Webb worked fast, and Padres’ batters sat down. The ninth inning offered an amazing opportunity as closer Camilo Doval had issues, allowing a hit, a walk then hitting Jurickson Profar to load the bases. But Doval dialed it back, getting three, successive strikes on sliders against pinch-hitter Matt Beatty to end the game.

The Giants didn’t do much against Sean Manaea, but what they did was enough. In the second, Heliot Ramos drew a walk, Mauricio Dubon–the subject of Tuesday’s flashpoint–singled, and Luke Williams doubled home two runs. After the third inning, the Giants got one hit: Wilmer Flores’ single that preceded Ramos hitting into a double play.

The crisply played ballgame also helped diffuse the bad feelings running through both clubhouses surrounding Dubon’s bunt single in Tuesday’s game with the Giants holding a big lead that frustrated the Padres, and led to a brief exchange between bench coaches Mike Shildt and Antoan Richardson. Richardson was ejected after Shildt’s choice of words infuriated Richardson, and led him to claim that Shildt’s words were racist in tone. In a mature gesture from both men, they met prior to the game, and spoke in conciliatory terms before discussing the incident with the media.

Almost overshadowed by the dustup and the ejection, was Alyssa Nakken’s debut as a first base coach, making her the first woman to be an on field participant in a Major League game.

The Giants’ rare opening week at home produced a pair of 2-1 series victories, and a 4-2 record that has them ahead of the Padres and Dodgers, but behind the 4-1 Rockies in the early, early snapshot of the NL West standings.

The Giants experience their only day off in the season’s first three weeks on Thursday before opening a three-game set in Cleveland against the newly-rebranded Guardians.