San Francisco will look for a reconfigured rotation to continue its magic Thursday afternoon when the Giants vie for a three-game sweep of the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers.
In the series finale, the Giants hope right-hander Logan Webb (2-2, 5.40 ERA) can duplicate the efforts of Landen Roupp and Tyler Mahle.
The two-time defending champion Dodgers are expected to counter with right-hander Tyler Glasnow (2-0, 3.24) on Thursday.
Looking to get his team off on a winning note to a six-game homestand, first-year Giants manager Tony Vitello elected to push struggling Tyler Mahle back a day and give Roupp the ball for Tuesday’s start.
Not only did Roupp come through, allowing one run on one hit in five innings of a 3-1 win, but Mahle responded with his best effort as a member of the Giants. He scattered three hits over seven scoreless innings in Wednesday’s 3-0 victory.
That set the stage for staff ace Webb, who last week got bumped up a day, moving ahead of Adrian Hauser.
Webb came through last Friday in Washington, helping the Giants win the second game of what has become five victories in their last six games.
The 29-year-old will make his 21st career start against the Dodgers, having gone 6-8 with a 4.47 ERA in the first 20.
Webb will pitch for a team that, according to Vitello, celebrated Wednesday’s win like no other this season. Struggling catcher Patrick Bailey played the hero with a three-run homer that produced the game’s only runs.
“He’s had big moments late in games here against some pretty good arms,” Vitello told reporters when asked if he considered pinch-hitting for his catcher with two runners in scoring position in a scoreless game in the seventh inning.
“That’s probably the loudest cheer I’ve heard out of that locker room. They knew it was coming for him.”
Led by Roupp and Mahle, Giants pitchers have served up just seven hits to the Dodgers in the first 18 innings of the series. Teoscar Hernandez stroked Los Angeles’ only extra-base hit of the two losses, a double in Tuesday’s defeat.
Hoping for better support will be Glasnow, who has started four straight Dodgers wins, allowing a total of nine runs in 25 innings with 29 strikeouts.
His last outing was his best of the young campaign, allowing the Colorado Rockies just one run and two hits over seven innings on Friday in a 7-1 win at Coors Field.
The 32-year-old California native has never lost in San Francisco, going 3-0 with a 2.91 ERA in four career starts. Overall, he’s seen the Giants eight times, seven times in starts, with a 5-1 record and a 3.63 ERA.
While the Giants haven’t lit up the Oracle Park scoreboard in the series, they did just enough to grab a lead over Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Tuesday, then outlasted Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday when the dual threat reached his limit of six innings on the mound. He left a 0-0 tie.
Ohtani told reporters he understands the conservative approach and assures he’s on the same page with team management.
“Just because I want to try to win the Cy Young and throw more innings,” he said, “that’s not necessarily the priority over winning a championship.”
–Field Level Media
