Matt Chapman's first Giants walk-off HR gives S.F. another one-run win

San Francisco Chronicle​

4 hours ago

San Francisco's hesitant offense has an unhappy tendency of disappearing during Logan Webb 's starts. Going into Saturday, Webb had by far the lowest run support among the Giants ' starters and that continued all the way through his time on the mound against the Braves.
Then came the ninth inning, when the Giants used their other offensive technique, the walkoff win, making it two in a row. With two outs and another great Webb performance looking as if it were for naught, Matt Chapman clocked a two-run homer to propel San Francisco to a 3-2 victory over Atlanta, the team's MLB-high eighth walkoff win of the season. It was Chapman's first walkoff homer for San Francisco – and his first walkoff hit and RBI with the team.
Atlanta starter Bryce Elder was just as terrific as Webb on Saturday, striking out a career-high 12 and allowing just three hits in eight innings. It was Elder's first career appearance against San Francisco, only one start removed from a 15-day trip to the minors. But Piece Johnson got the ninth and again was on the wrong side of a walkoff; he had also uncorked the decisive wild pitch in the 10th inning on Friday.
Trust Webb to be the guy on the mound when an opposing pitcher put together his best start of the year: He gets just 2.8 runs per 27 outs while being the pitcher of record. The run support for the rest of the regular starters is slightly more robust: Robbie Ray gets 4.4 runs of support per 27 outs while the pitcher of record; Landen Roupp 4.0; Justin Verlander 3.8; Jordan Hicks, 3.8; Hayden Birdsong 3.4, all per BaseballReference.com.
Webb struck out 10 in his six innings and walked zero; over his past four starts, he's struck out 32 and walked one in 24 innings. That's ace stuff, All-Star stuff.
Giants 3, Braves 2
Atlanta San Francisco
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Totals 34 2 7 2 Totals 31 3 5 3
Acuña rf 4 1 1 0 D.Johnson cf 4 0 1 0
Baldwin c 4 0 1 0 Ramos lf 4 1 1 0
Riley 3b 4 0 2 0 Flores dh 4 1 1 1
Olson 1b 3 0 0 0 Chapman 3b 4 1 1 2
Ozuna dh 4 0 0 1 Smith 1b 3 0 1 0
Harris cf 4 1 1 1 Adames ss 3 0 0 0
Albies 2b 3 0 1 0 Yastrzemski rf 3 0 0 0
Verdugo lf 2 0 0 0 Bailey c 3 0 0 0
White ph-lf 2 0 0 0 Fitzgerald 2b 2 0 0 0
Allen ss 4 0 1 0 J.Lee ph 1 0 0 0
Schmitt 2b 0 0 0 0
Atlanta 000 011 000 — 2
San Francisco 000 100 002 — 3
LOB: Atlanta 7, San Francisco 2. 2B_Riley (11), D.Johnson (1). HR: Harris (4), Flores (11), Chapman (12).
IP H R ER BB SO
Atlanta
Elder 8 3 1 1 0 12
P.Johnson L,1-3 BS,1-3 2-3 2 2 2 0 1
San Francisco
Webb 6 6 2 2 0 10
Miller 1 0 0 0 0 0
Hjelle 1 1 0 0 1 0
Rogers W,3-2 1 0 0 0 1 0
Umpires: Home, Gabe Morales; First, Jansen Visconti; Second, Malachi Moore; Third, Andy Fletcher.
T: 2:05. A: 35,162 (41,915).
Saturday's outing was his fifth career game with 10 or more strikeouts and no walks. The only other Giants with as many or more since 1893 are Madison Bumgarner (12) and Tim Lincecum (five). Juan Marichal had four.
Webb struck out nine of the first 14 batters Saturday, including getting Ronald Acuña Jr. and Drake Baldwin swinging with two on in the third. In the fourth, he struck out the side, all looking, something that Braves manager Brian Snitker took exception to until he was tossed by home-plate umpire Gabe Morales.
Given the way Webb was working, Wilmer Flores' leadoff homer in the fourth seemed like a major blow, but the Braves love a tight game as much as the Giants do, and Michael Harris II led off the fifth with his second career homer off Webb in just 13 at-bats.
Atlanta added a run in the sixth to take the lead, but Webb might have done his best work of the day that inning. Acuna, Baldwin and Austin Riley rapped singles to load the bases with no outs, and Webb got cleanup hitter Matt Olson to pop up before getting a grounder from Marcel Ozuna. Hit even slightly harder, Webb would have emerged unscathed, but Ozuna's tapper was 74 mph and Chapman could only get the runner at second, with Ozuna beating the throw to first as a run scored. Webb finished his day by striking out Harris.
The Giants and Braves top the majors with 27 one-run games apiece including each of the first two games against each other this year. Each of San Francisco's past 13 games has been decided by no more than two runs, the longest streak in franchise history, eclipsing a 12-game span from May 30-June 12, 1978.
Briefly: Center fielder Jung Hoo Lee got the start off because of some slight back tightness but he could have played had there been a need, manager Bob Melvin said. Lee pinch hit in the eighth and struck out. … Melvin said that Justin Verlander (pectoral strain) feels good after throwing to hutters on Friday but the team hasn't decided when he'll come off the IL. … The club announced that catcher Sam Huff, who'd been designated for assignment Tuesday, cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Sacramento, a welcome development for a team that doesn't have a lot of catching. 'As far as the catching position goes, depth can be ominous,' Melvin said, 'We were pulling for Sam to get a major-league job but he's gotten to know our pitching staff and did well with all our starting pitchers.'