SAN FRANCISCO — The Atlanta Braves have one of the most explosive offenses in baseball. And Logan Webb had to face them in back-to-back starts.
All told, he didn’t throw many bad pitches in his Friday night outing, but the Braves don’t need gifts to make their offense sing. With yet another night without run support, Webb couldn’t hold Atlanta down and the Giants were beat 5-1 to open up this three-game series at Oracle Park.
With that, the Giants lose 13 of their last 18 games, inching them closer to a .500 winning percentage with a 66-62 record. San Francisco was 12 games over .500 on Aug. 5, now their playoff chances are dwindling by the night.
Webb was hitting his spots, but the Braves’ hitters had a knack for beating him there. In the first inning, Michael Harris III hit a sinker inside at his hands into the right field stands to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead. Harris struck again in the fourth with a single and stolen base on catcher Blake Sabol. He scored on Matt Olson’s double into the center-right corner and Marcell Ozuna’s opposite field single scored Olson.
The Braves had a beat on Webb the third time through the order; likely MVP candidate Ronald Acuña Jr. tripled and Harris collected his third hit with a single to score Acuña. In relief, Alex Wood held Olson to a pop out that J.D. Davis made a basket catch on, but Harris was too quick and scored from third. Webb left with five earned runs and one strikeout.
The Giants did a little better against Braves starter Spencer Strider this time around. The right-hander followed up his one-hit, 10 strikeout outing against the Giants in Atlanta last week with a one-run, nine strikeout showing at Oracle Park.
Eight- and nine-hitters Wade Meckler and Luis Matos’ back-to-back hits in the third inning were the only knocks Strider allowed until Joc Pederson’s triple in the seventh inning. He’d score on Davis’ groundout.
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