St. Louis Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizner, right, tags out San Francisco Giants’ David Villar at home during the fifth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Thu Apr 27, 2023 (AP News photo)
St. Louis. 000 000 231. – 6. 12. 0
San Francisco. 000 000 000. – 0 6. 0
Time: 2:44
Attendance: 23,397
Thursday, April 27, 2023
By Lewis Rubman
SAN FRANCISCO–I’ve seen a few different versions of this remark, sometimes attributed to Bill McCullough of the defunct Brooklyn Eagle, but I’ve never been able to confirm it. Still, the assertion , “Overconfidence may cost the Dodgers sixth place” kept coming to my mind as I settled into my seat to watch this afternoon’s concluding episode of the four game series between the reawakening San Francisco Giants (11-13 at game time) and the visiting St. Louis Cardinals (9-16). My skepticism was justified; the Cards shut the Giants out, 6-0.
Logan Webb, whose recently signed five year, $90,000,000 1-1contract stands in stark contrast to his game time record of 1-1-4.40, had only one outing to his credit in the still young season, but that was his most recent one. It came five ago, here at Oracle Park on the 22nd,a 7-4 win over the Mets. In it he held them Mets to a pair of runs, both earned, over seven innings, in which he allowed five hits and threw 98 pitches.
Webb’s opposite number for St. Louis, Miles Mikolas, was an All Star last season but had been a disappointment – to say the least – so far in 2023. When he took the mound, he was leading the National League in hits allowed, was tied for first in runs allowed, had the second highest ERA among qualifying (if that’s the word) pitchers, and was tied for fourth place in home runs surrendered. That explains his game time mark of 0-1, 7.46.
Webb pitched himself out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the third, and Mikolas extricated himself from the same situation in the bottom of the fifth. Indeed, both starters had reason to endorse Lefty Gomez’s formula for success, clean living and a fast outfield.
That wasn’t enough to keep St. Louis off the board in the top of the seventh Wuth one one, Alec Burleson jumped on a two and two four seamer and drove it over the right field wall, 385 feet deep. The pitch came in at 92.9 mph and left Burleson’s bat at 102.3 mph. It was his third round tripper of the year. Webb never recovered from the blast. Paul DeJong and Tyler singled to right and both moved up a base on AndrewKnzner’s fly to left.
Loogan and the Giants might have avoided further damage when umpire and crew chief Paul Emmel called Tommy Edman out at first after he’d hit a grounder to Estrada at second to end the inning. But the Cards appealed the decision, and the review crew in New York correctly overturned it. John Brebbia left the bullpen and climbed the mound to get the final out.
Webb had done a credible job. He threw 102 pitches, 70 for strikes, over 6-2/3 innings and allowed two runs, both earned, on seven hits, one of them Burleson’s fatidic blast, and a walk. He struck out seven Redbirds. John Brebbia, who closed out the seventh and, in conjunction with Tristan Beck, let the game get out of hand in the eighth.
With Norman Gorman on first and one out, Dylan Carlson hit an RBI double to left that sent Brebbia to the showers. His replacement, Tristan Beck, promptly surrendered a four bagger to left by Paul DeJong, his second of the year. It now was St. Louis on top, 5-0.
Meanwhile, Mikolas, after fanning Villar to open the home seventh, was replace by Génesis Cabrera. The Cards’ starter had thrown 6-1/3 frames of shutout ball and allowed four hits, surrendered two free passes, and hit a batter. He threw 95 pitches, 65 for strikes.
When it rains, it pours, or at least drizzles, even on a sunny day on the shores of McCovey Cove. With Beck still on the mound,, Edman led off the visitors’ ninth with a double to right, went to third on Nootbaars’s infield hit, and scored on Goldschmidt’s 5-4 RBI force out.
Drew Ver Hagen set San Francisco down in order in the bottom of the ninth to preserve preserve the Redbird win.
Mikolas, now 1-1, 5.97; Webb, now 1-5, 4.1o, the loss.
The Giants’ next game will be Saturday, the 29th, in Mexico City , where they’ll play a two game series with the San Diego Padres, starting at 3:05 PDT. The pitchers for the first game will be Sean Manaea (0-1,6.61) for the Giants and Joe Musgrove (1-0, 5.40) for the Friars.
