Loss vs. Padres mathematically eliminates SF Giants from NL West race

SAN FRANCISCO — In addition to getting another left-handed bat in the lineup against tough Padres righty Dylan Cease, the Giants wanted to maximize their infield defense behind Logan Webb, one of the most effective pitchers in the majors at keeping the ball on the ground.

So, before Friday night’s series opener, they recalled journeyman minor-league infielder Donovan Walton and inserted him to the starting lineup at second base, leaving their less surehanded top prospect, Marco Luciano, on the bench. It was sound strategy to win that night’s game but drew the ire of a fan base that has largely accepted the Giants’ fate with just over a dozen games left this season and their club out of contention.

In the end, the infield alignment hardly mattered as the Padres put the ball in the air, got to Webb early and sent the Giants to their second straight shutout loss, 5-0, that only further crystallized the disappointing outcome of their season. The loss mathematically eliminated them from catching the Dodgers for the NL West, and the number to eliminate them from the postseason altogether dropped to six.

Out of the game after four innings, Webb allowed four runs (three earned) and took the loss. It was his shortest start since May 5, snapping a streak of 22 straight starts of five or more innings, and he had nobody to blame but himself for his elongated final frame.

With Jackson Merrill at second with two outs in the fourth, Webb had a chance to get out of the inning unscathed. The No. 9 hitter, Elias Diaz, bounced a soft ground ball in front of the plate, and Webb waved off catcher Patrick Bailey to make the play himself. However, he airmailed the throw about 10 feet over the head of LaMonte Wade Jr., allowing Merrill to go 180 feet and extend the Padres’ lead to 4-0.

It was a double dose of reminders of the importance of pitchers’ fielding practice as the next batter, Luis Arraez, won the footrace against Webb on a ground ball to Wade, though that one didn’t come back to bite him as he got Fernando Tatis Jr. to roll over to end the inning, at last.

Exhausting 20 or more pitches in three of his four innings — 84 in total — the Giants determined not to push him any further and handed the reins to Tristan Beck to begin the fifth. With 193⅔ innings in 31 starts, Webb has shouldered the largest workload of any pitcher in the majors this season.

His sinkerballing ways have made him one of the best in the majors at inducing ground balls (at a rate of 57.4%, the fourth-highest in MLB) and suppressing home runs (third-fewest among qualified starters). But four of the six batters he faced in the first inning lifted the ball in the air, none harder or further than the 1-0 changeup that left the bat of Fernando Tatis Jr. at 109.6 mph and found a landing spot 433 feet away in center field.

The home run was only the 11th allowed by Webb all season and gave the Padres a 2-0 lead two batters into the game.

That would have been enough against a group of Giants hitters that was stupefied by Webb’s opponent, Dylan Cease, but Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts teamed up to tack on one more before the first was over, and the unearned run in the fourth made it 4-0.

Cease struck out the side twice and fanned 10 Giants over six shutout innings. San Francisco struck out 12 times in total, falling to 23-41 when striking out double-digit times, the eighth-most such games in the major leagues. After producing five hits in a 3-0 loss to the Brewers on Thursday, they mustered only four Friday night.

It was the first time the Giants have been shut out in back-to-back games since losses last September 3 and 4 to the Padres and Cubs and only the 14th time it has happened since the turn of the century.

Heliot Ramos represented their best scoring chance in the sixth inning, but he was thrown out trying to score from first base on Patrick Bailey’s two-out double into the right-field corner. He was waved home by third-base coach Matt Williams, who decided to test the strong right arm of Tatis, but the relay throw easily beat him to the plate and it turned into the third out of the inning.

Walton may have saved a run with his defense, diving to right to rob Bogaerts of a hit to lead off the fourth, but contributed a pair of their strikeouts while going hitless at the plate. Luciano, meanwhile, never had a reason to remove his black team jacket.