SAN FRANCISCO — Before Wednesday’s series finale against the Dodgers, Curt Casali, fresh off signing a one-year deal to re-join the black and orange, was asked about the team’s morale amidst a flurry of injuries. While Casali couldn’t speak to the temperature of the room, he may have instead foreshadowed what was to come in the ensuing hours.
“Hopefully I can be a little bit of a spark for the boys and get a win over the Dodgers tonight,” Casali said.
Led by Mike Yastrzemski’s two-run home run, Logan Webb’s six shutout innings, Luis Matos’ awe-inspiring home run robbery and, yes, some solid work from Casali, the Giants (20-25) beat the Dodgers (29-16), 4-1, at Oracle Park, avoiding a sweep and securing their first win against their Southern California rivals this season.
A night removed from a forgettable defensive exhibition, Matos threw his hat in the play of the year conversation in the top of the fourth, perfectly tracking Teoscar Hernández’s deep drive to center field, jumping, extending and robbing a home run, banging his body into nearly the exact same spot where Jung Hoo Lee dislocated his left shoulder. Oracle Park erupted in cheers and Webb immediately raised his arms in jubilation, but the ballpark turned silent as Matos sat on the warning track, clearly reeling from his collision.
Luis Matos makes an INCREDIBLE catch at the wall. pic.twitter.com/ksJls1lIlF
— MLB (@MLB) May 16, 2024
The Giants have already sent seven position players to the injured list since last Friday, and as head athletic trainer Dave Groeschner hustled out to center field, it was fair to wonder whether Matos would be the next headed to the shelf. Following an examination that lasted several minutes, Groeschner jogged back to the home dugout — alone — and Matos stayed in the ballgame.
Matos contributed with his bat as well, driving in a run with a single and extending the lead to three in the bottom of the eighth inning to provide an insurance run for Camilo Doval.
With help from Matos’ glovework, Webb turned in his seventh quality start of the season, striking out five batters and walking three across his six scoreless innings. For Webb, Wednesday’s start against the Dodgers was a rebound after he allowed a season-high five earned runs to Los Angeles across 3 2/3 innings on April 2.
The most intriguing part of Webb’s night wasn’t his line score, but his pitch mix. Entering play, Webb’s four-seam fastball accounted for only 4.5 percent of his pitches this season, but against the Dodgers, Webb threw 17 four-seamers. The four-seam fastball hasn’t been a prominent part of his repertoire since 2020, when the pitch accounted for 32.4 percent of his offerings. Since 2022, Webb has only had two games where he’s thrown at least 10 four-seam fastballs (Aug. 13, 2023 and April 23, 2024).
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Webb’s night wasn’t entirely smooth sailing. In the first, the Dodgers loaded the bases and made Webb throw 32 pitches before he put his first zero on the board. In the second, Webb recorded two quick outs and got ahead of James Outman, 0-2, but proceeded to throw seven straight balls, walking Outman and falling behind to Mookie Betts, 3-0. Betts flew out to right field to end the inning, but in temporarily losing the zone, Webb ended up having thrown 51 pitches across his first two frames.
The Dodgers put runners at the corners in the fifth inning with two outs thanks to back-to-back singles by Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, but Webb induced an inning-ending force out to escape trouble.
Los Angeles made things interesting in the ninth. With the Giants leading by three runs, Doval walked Mookie Betts and allowed a single to Shohei Ohtani with two outs, bringing Freddie Freeman to the plate as the tying run. Doval managed to slam the door, getting Freeman to ground out and securing the win.
Casali, playing in his first game as a Giant since July 4, 2022, had a productive night in his own right. The 35-year-old rolled a single into right field for San Francisco’s first hit of the night, setting the table for Yastrzemski’s two-run homer in the bottom of the third. Casali also made a textbook play on Outman’s swinging bunt down the third-base line in the fifth inning, fielding the ball with his bare hand and firing a strike to an awaiting LaMonte Wade Jr. at first base for the out.
Following a day off on Thursday, the Giants will welcome the Rockies (15-28) to town for a three-game set. Despite sitting in last place in the NL West, Colorado has won seven straight games, a stretch that includes sweeps of the Rangers and Padres.
